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Modern Maestro

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UPTOWN_robert_glasperBy Shydel James

Most musicians measure their success by record sales, awards, and radio airplay. Not Robert Glasper. The jazz pianist’s triumphs hinge on one thing: whether or not you’ve heard his music. “Modern jazz isn’t on TV or being played on mainstream radio,” says the 33-year-old Houston native. “You’ve got to dig for it. So, if someone stumbles upon my music by accident and says, ‘I don’t like Robert Glasper,’ then I’ve made it.”

With a Grammy nomination and five albums under his belt, not being embraced is the last thing the maestro has to worry about. In fact, music critics have lauded Glasper’s ability to seamlessly build a bridge between the worlds of hip-hop, soul, and jazz. “I’m just going along
with the natural fl ow of what jazz actually is by allowing diff erent types of music to inspire me,” he explains. “That’s the only way it stays fresh.”

His latest effort, Black Radio (Blue Note), is a masterful blend of genre-bending originals and surprising covers like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” “That’s a rock tune that everybody loves,” says Glasper, who also covers classics by David Bowie and Sade on the album. “I didn’t want to choose obvious covers. I chose songs people could identify with.”

Radio is also his first full-length album with his band Experiment, and also features a who’s who in hip-hop and R&B, from Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def to Erykah Badu and Lalah Hathaway, who offers up a lush rendition of Sade’s “Cherish the Day.” “It was so much fun,” he says of the collaborative process. “We didn’t know what we were going to do until we got in the studio. I love being adventurous and tapping into the unknown. Doing it that way always leaves room for accidental goodness.”

Black Radio drops February 28. robertglasper.com


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