Esperanza Spalding Performs "Winter Sun" on the Late Show

Esperanza Spalding performed "Winter Sun" from her latest album "Chamber Music Society" last Friday on David Letterman's show. She recently received a nomination in the Best New Artist category at next month's Grammy Awards.

Esperanza was writing music in New Jersey when she came up with "Winter Sun". "I was living in New Jersey at the time in a mildly dreary neighborhood," Spalding says. "I would be inside writing and you see the light coming in, and you check to see if it's sunny yet or not in the winter."

At first, "Winter Sun" didn't have words. But, as always, inspiration struck.

"I was on a tour with some other musicians; one night at 1 a.m. when I couldn't sleep, the lyrics just all came at once," Spalding says. "This image of this bare tree in front of my house in the winter. When the sun comes, I see the bark light up and I was thinking, 'Wow, as a tree, what a wonderful feeling that you're freezing, so cold that you hold no leaves, no nothing, and to suddenly feel the warmth of that sun pass over you.' That must be a really wonderful sensation. It certainly is to me as a human when I feel the sun touching my skin."

Esperanza Spalding will be on tour starting from February throughout April, check out the dates and venues here.