Robert Glasper
Piano / Electric Piano / Keyboards

Robert Glasper

(1978)

Houston, TX, United States·The New School

He plays hip-hop and R&B in jazz vocabulary — and conversely, lays jazz harmony over hip-hop beats. He reaches both audiences, which is extraordinarily rare. His live performances have a relaxed looseness that is entirely his own signature.

Robert Glasper Experiment album co-led by Robert Glasper

Black Radio
Black Radio
Robert Glasper Experiment · 2012

Black RadioBlack RadioBlack RadioRobert Glasper Experiment · 2012 (2012) dissolved the boundaries between jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. Featuring Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and Lupe Fiasco, it was a definitive answer to the question of how to bring jazz to people outside jazz. Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー's band kept deepening that direction.

Robert Glasper's albums

Robert Glasper's videos

The 2014 Tiny Desk — the canonical Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー Experiment lineup. Casey BenjaminCasey BenjaminCasey Benjaminケイシー・ベンジャミン's vocoder and sax, Derrick HodgeDerrick HodgeDerrick Hodgeデリック・ホッジ's bass, Mark ColenburgMark Colenburgマーク・コレンバーグ's drums, all dissolving the lines between jazz, neo-soul, and hip-hop.

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, 2014

Videos featuring Robert Glasper

Robert Glasper Experiment album co-led by Robert Glasper

Black Radio
Black Radio
Robert Glasper Experiment · 2012

Black RadioBlack RadioBlack RadioRobert Glasper Experiment · 2012 (2012) brought hip-hop and R&B fully into jazz on Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー's terms, winning the Grammy for Best R&B Album. With Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and Bilal as guests, it physically expanded jazz's boundary.

Black Radio (Robert Glasper Experiment album), Wikipedia, 2024

Robert Glasper's albums

Robert Glasper Experiment album co-led by Robert Glasper

Black Radio
Black Radio
Robert Glasper Experiment · 2012

Between 2009 and 2012, Chris DaveChris DaveChris Daveクリス・デイヴ played drums on three Grammy-winning albums in three different genres: Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night (R&B), Adele's 21 (pop), and Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー Experiment's Black RadioBlack RadioBlack RadioRobert Glasper Experiment · 2012 (jazz). When producers across genres needed a drummer, they kept calling the same jazz musician.

Chris Dave: The Most Important Drummer You've Never Heard Of

Robert Glasper's albums

Robert Glasper's albums

The Epic
The Epic
Kamasi Washington · 2015

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) was built on jazz musicians: Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー, Terrace MartinTerrace MartinTerrace Martinテラス・マーティン, Kamasi WashingtonKamasi WashingtonKamasi Washingtonカマシ・ワシントン, and ThundercatThundercatThundercatサンダーキャット. Glasper was supposed to play on one track, but Kendrick kept queuing up songs — he ended up recording nine in a single sitting with no sheet music. The piano solo on "These Walls" was actually his warmup, secretly recorded by Terrace Martin.

Robert Glasper on Playing Jazz Piano on To Pimp a Butterfly, Slate, 2015

Robert Glasper's albums

Robert Glasper Experiment album co-led by Robert Glasper

Black Radio
Black Radio
Robert Glasper Experiment · 2012

The suspended left-hand voicings Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー places on the Fender Rhodes are the harmonic fingerprint running through Black RadioBlack RadioBlack RadioRobert Glasper Experiment · 2012. On the Erykah Badu reading of "Afro Blue," he shifts Mongo Santamaria's 3/4 into 4/4 and restacks the chords upward, dissolving the tune into neo-soul texture.

Robert Glasper: Black Radio at 10, JAZZIZ, 2022

Robert Glasper's albums

Keyon HarroldKeyon HarroldKeyon Harroldキーヨン・ハロルド's The Mugician was written in response to the post-Ferguson United States, with guest spots from Robert GlasperRobert GlasperRobert Glasperロバート・グラスパー and Bilal. The album's title stitches "magician" and "musician" into a single coined word, advancing an ambition to redefine the trumpet as an instrument of ritual.

Robert Glasper: Black Radio at 10, JAZZIZ, 2022