Robert Glasper’s music is a study in convergences. A pianist, bandleader and composer with a strong foothold in modern jazz, he belongs no less to the terrain of contemporary gospel, alternative hip-hop \u2014 and R&B, the category under which he won his first two Grammy awards (of three). Glasper has carved a signature out of this cross-genre dialogue; consult his recent explainer for Jazz Night in America, about the jazz roots of some famous hip-hop samples.<\/p>\n
At NPR Music’s 10th Anniversary Concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., Glasper came to play, bringing longtime associate Derrick Hodge on electric bass and a newer collaborator, Justin Tyson, on drums. The performance began with something like an invocation, as Hodge played a chiming and meditative elaboration on “Portrait of Tracy,” a ballad by Jaco Pastorius.<\/p>\n
What came next was an unbilled guest: Bilal, the shape-shifting R&B vocalist who has known Glasper since the first day of freshman year at the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music in New York. They dug into “All Matter,” a tune that first appeared on Glasper’s 2009 album Double Booked, later resurfacing on Bilal’s 2010 release Airtight Revenge. The lyrics establish a philosophical reflection well suited to our times:<\/p>\n
We’re all the same
\nAnd all so very different
\nDivine by design
\nIt all intertwines<\/p>\n
Glasper and Bilal have performed “All Matter” countless times, always managing to find some new motivation in the song. This performance features a keyboard solo that starts out terse and gradually opens up and expands, hinting at some tricky rhythmic displacement that Tyson later ratifies, in his spectacular drum solo.<\/p>\n
Glasper’s solemn but uplifting piano interlude leads into another Bilal original, “Levels,” a portrait of relationship strife that refuses to lay the blame fully on either side. It’s an argument for rendering complexity with clarity \u2014 something Glasper and crew know a thing or two about. — Nate Chinen<\/p>\n
SET LIST
\n“Portrait of Tracy” (excerpt) by Jaco Pastorius
\n“All Matter” by Bilal Oliver
\n“Levels” by Bilal Oliver<\/p>\n
CREDITS Robert Glasper’s music is a study in convergences. A pianist, bandleader and composer with a strong foothold in modern jazz, he belongs no less to the terrain of contemporary gospel, alternative hip-hop \u2014 and R&B, the category under which he won his first two Grammy awards (of three). Glasper has carved a signature out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9119,307,22716,20025,8115,91143,16957,26365,1449,91144,91141,57916,91140,27780,79073,10917,91142],"class_list":["post-32359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european","tag-10th","tag-amp","tag-anniversary","tag-bilal","tag-concert","tag-glasper","tag-hip-hop","tag-jazz","tag-live","tag-music39s","tag-national-public-radio","tag-npr","tag-npr-music","tag-performance","tag-rb","tag-robert","tag-robert-glasper","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigranttravels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDirector: Colin Marshall; Producers: Colin Marshall, Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey; Technical Director: Josh Rogosin; Live Mix Engineer: Shawn “Gus” Vitale; Supervising Producer: Mito Habe-Evans; Managing Producers: Bob Boilen, Jacob Ganz, Jessica Goldstein, Abby O’Neill; Creative Director and Producer: Peter Glantz; Concert Videographers: Bronson Arcuri, Kara Frame, Nickolai Hammar, Morgan Noelle Smith, Maia Stern, Niki Walker; Production Assistant: CJ Riculan; Editor: Annabel Edwards; Special Thanks: The 9:30 Club; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins.
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