Robert Glasper-North Portland(2005)

Glaspers earliest musical influence was his mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who sang jazz and blues professionally, and would bring him with her to club dates rather than leave her son with babysitters. She also performed in church where the young Glasper began playing piano, and performed during services at three separate churches: Baptist, Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist. Glasper has said that he first developed his sound in church, where he learned his own way to hear harmony, and was inspired to mix church and gospel harmonies with jazz harmonies.

Glasper attended Elkins High School (Texas) in Houston, TX and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. At the New School, Glasper met the neo-soul singer Bilal. They began performing and recording together, which led to associations with a variety of hip-hop and R&B artists parallel to Glaspers emerging jazz career. He has worked with Bilal and Mos Def as musical director, Q-Tip (The Renaissance), Kanye West (Late Registration), Meshell Ndegeocello (The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams), J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Common, Slum Village and Maxwell, with whom he toured extensively on 2009s BLACKsummers'night tour.

Glaspers first album, Mood, was released by Fresh Sound New Talent in 2004, after the pianists stints playing in bands with guitarists Russell Malone and Mark Whitfield, bassist Christian McBride, and trumpeters Terence Blanchard (Bounce) and Roy Hargrove. Glasper wrote six original compositions for the album, which also features versions of Blue Skies, Alone Together, and Herbie Hancocks Maiden Voyage, with a guest vocal by Bilal. Glasper has said that his arrangement of the Hancock tune was inspired by the Radiohead song Everything in Its Right Place.

Blue Note Records released Canvas, Glaspers major-label debut, in 2005. The album features nine original songs and a version of Hancocks Riot. Glasper plays Fender Rhodes organ on three tracks, and Bilal sings on two. In My Element, released in 2006, includes songs written in honor of Glaspers mother (Tribute) and hip-hop producer J Dilla (J Dillatude). The pianist also revisits Hancocks Maiden Voyage, which segues into a version of Everything in Its Right Place, and quotes Duke Ellingtons Fleurette Africaine.

Glasper's latest release is the 2009 album Double Booked. It is divided between songs performed by Glasper in an acoustic piano trio and funk-influenced tracks played on electric instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes organ and the vocoder (used on a version of Herbie Hancocks Butterfly). The album features voice mail recordings from Blanchard and Roots[disambiguation needed] drummer Questlove, and guest vocals and spoken word appearances by Bilal and Mos Def. Bilal received a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track All Matter.

Glasper has performed at jazz festivals throughout the world, and his trio performed at the 2007 Bonnaroo Music Festival as part of Blue Note's "Somethin' Else" jazz tent. In addition to his working trio (Chris Dave, drums; Vicinte Archer, bass) , he also leads the RCDC Experiment (Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave, and Casey Benjamin), in which he explores fusions of jazz and hip hop. Robert Glasper is currently represented by Addeo Music International (AMI).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jazz
• Fusion
• Adult Contemporary

[YeKoMsFilm]

woaw ... what else would u say !?

[jbrissett0515]

this is sooooooooooooo freaking ill

[slavetothecause]

I'm fast becoming a fan of this guy.

[deadarm66]

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful.

Recently moved to PDX, where will you be performing?

Peace!!