Robert Glasper

Robert Glasper is a jazz pianist with a knack for mellow, harmonically complex compositions that also reveal a subtle hip-hop influence. Since debuting as a leader during the mid-2000s, the Houston native has been crucial to the enduring relevance of Blue Note Records, blurring genre distinctions and regularly topping Billboard's Jazz Albums chart with highly collaborative recordings such as the Grammy-winning Black Radio (2011) and Black Radio 2 (2013), as well as ArtScience (2016), all credited to the Robert Glasper Experiment. In addition to guiding projects such as the soundtrack for Miles Ahead (another Grammy winner) and R+R=Now's Collagically Speaking, Glasper has contributed to dozens of other albums, most notably Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. The mixtape Fuck Yo Feelings (2019) best exemplifies Glasper's obstinate resistance to expectations and devotion to spontaneous interplay.

Robert Glasper is a man of many talents. Certainly, he's both an inarguably accomplished jazz pianist and a first-rate composer. But what Glasper does best is pick drummers. With 2007's In My Element, he provided Damion Reid with a platform to record nothing less than the drum performance of the year. For this album, Glasper teams up with Chris Dave, and the results are astonishing. It's a concept album, sort of. The first half features the Trio (Glasper, Dave, and bassist Vicente Archer) on a handful of originals and a take on Thelonius Monk's "Think of One." Throughout, the piano and drums intertwine with a complex integrity that sounds deceptively effortless. Then comes the Experiment: Derrick Hodge replaces Archer with an electric bass; Casey Benjamin adds saxes and vocoder; Bilal and Mos Def drop in for vocal cameos. The Experiment's five tracks differ in texture and depth from the Trio's set, but the adventurousness of the performances and the gorgeous lyricism of Dave's drumming fuse the album's halves into a single musical statement that makes for the year's best jazz album so far.

'Black Radio' and 'Black Radio II' are landmark albums that have shaped the genres of jazz, hip hop and r&b for the past decade. Direct lines can be drawn to Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar, and black music writ large. For 'Black Radio III', 4-time grammy winner Robert Glasper cements his legacy as producer, curator and cultural icon. These collaborations range from the most powerful voices in contemporary black music (Killer Mike, ty dolla $ign, D Smoke, PJ Morton) to the most important lyricists and performers of the past 30 years (Jennifer Hudson, Ledisi, Common, Gregory Porter, Musiq Soulchild, India.Arie). 'Black Radio III' is also a statement for these times. It is Glasper's most direct statement of the frustration and opportunity of a world disrupted by social change. It is at once beautiful, powerful and innovative.

Today, multi-Grammy and Emmy-winning artist and producer Robert Glasper releases a new holiday EP, In December. Featuring an esteemed roster of frequent collaborators—PJ Morton, Sevyn Streeter, Cynthia Ervo, Tarriona Tank Ball, Alex Isley, Andra Day, and The Baylor Project—the eight track project is an evocative and moving addition to Glasper’s critically lauded catalog. In December sees Glasper’s unique approach to contemporary R&B and jazz, encapsulated in his famed Black Radio series, applied to what is a sonically unique take on holiday music. This non-traditional holiday release brings a weight and musical funkiness to a genre and time of year that is often seeped in campy or classic holiday motifs. Speaking on "In December", Robert Glasper says, “I’m excited to drop my first holiday record. I hope it brings as much joy as I had making it. Sip some eggnog and enjoy.”

Four months after winning his second Grammy Award in the R&B category for Black Radio 2, pianist Robert Glasper re-assembles the acoustic jazz trio that played on his first two Blue Note recordings…

Black Radio, the title of the Robert Glasper Experiment's proper Blue Note debut, is a double signifier. There's the dictionary's definition: "the device in an aircraft that records technical data during a flight, used in case of accident to discover its cause." And there's Angelika Beener's in her liner essay. She defines Black Radio as "representative of the veracity of Black music" which has been "…emulated, envied and countlessly re-imagined by the rest of the world…." With jazz as its backbone, Glasper, drummer Chris Dave, bassist Derrick Hodge, and Casey Benjamin on reeds, winds, and vocoder, cued by the inspiration of black music's illustrious cultural past, try to carve out a creative place for its future…

Black Radio 2 is the sixth studio album by American jazz pianist and R&B producer Robert Glasper (and the second with his Robert Glasper Experiment band), released on October 29, 2013 by Blue Note Records. It is the follow-up to the Grammy Award winner Black Radio released in 2012. and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the album cut "Jesus Children of America" featuring Lalah Hathaway and Malcolm-Jamal Warner in 2015.