Esperanza Spalding’s Fretless Bass Work on “I Know You Know” Is Ridiculous

Esperanza Spalding’s performance at Chan Shun Concert Hall is a must watch.

Spalding and the band perform “I Know You Know,” with Spalding switching to electric bass and delivering some incredible fretless work while handling the tune’s twisting vocal melody at the same time. She is playing her custom South Paw five string fretless, built by NYC luthier Simon Propert, which we featured as our Bass of the Week back in 2013. The bass has an ebony fingerboard and a Bartolini StingRay 5 pickup.

Her rig for the performance includes an Aguilar DB 751 head and DB cabinet. The tone is fantastic but the real story is what Spalding does with it. The syncopated bass line, fills, phrasing, and vocals all seem to operate independently and somehow she makes the whole thing look effortless.

This is just incredible.