'We are like shipwrights,' Spalding says in an interview with NPR's Ailsa Chang. 5, 2017 in Newport, R.I.Īt the heart of Esperanza Spalding's new album, Songwrights Apothecary Lab (S.A.L.), is a question: 'What do you need a song for?' In pursuit of answers, Spalding, a Grammy-winning jazz singer and bassist, assembled a team of more than just other musicians she created a laboratory of sorts, gathering neuroscientists, psychologists, ethnomusicologists and more. Esperanza Spalding, performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on Aug.
