Two shows: first at 7.30pm; second at 10pm
After dominating the jazz charts, winning a couple R&B Grammys, and recording with everyone from Erykah Badu to Norah Jones to Snoop Dogg, what's next for a band like the Robert Glasper Experiment?
The Robert Glasper Experiment has released, the powerful first single from the groundbreaking, GRAMMY-winning band’s new album ArtScience (Blue Note). The eclectic album finds the Experiment getting down to its essence, with each of the band members——delivering the vocals and sharing in the production and songwriting on the album. On ArtScience, sounds like a bit of everything that's vibrant and challenging and great about music woven into a billowing fabric of jazz, funk, soul, rock, hip-hop, blues, disco, electronic, and pop.
Balancing art and science is something Glasper's been working at his entire career—cutting that sheer musical ability with the sort of songwriting that simply resonates with the heart. Crossing over isn't easy, but it's been his thing for as long as he can remember.
His mother was music director at their Houston church, where Glasper would first play keys for a crowd. She also sang jazz and blues at clubs by night, and brought the child (he'd eventually accompany her). That mixture became his sonic bedrock, and it went with him to the city's esteemed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and on to the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. By 2005, when Glasper signed with Blue Note, he'd become an accomplished sideman to Christian McBride, Kenny Garrett, Roy Hargrove, and more.
That's when he made the decision. "No more side gigs," says Glasper. "I'll do my own thing in jazz, and if I play for anyone else it'll be a different genre because eventually I want to make albums in those genres." So he worked as music director for Mos Def and Bilal, hit the studio with Q-Tip, Kanye West, and Erykah Badu, and did a world tour with Maxwell, all while releasing jazz LPs that drew steady acclaim.
His worlds merged on the first full Experiment album, 2012's Black Radio, which scored a Top Jazz Albums No. 1 and won the year's Best R&B Album Grammy. The Experiment didn't just cross over; they revitalized their genre. Black Radio 2 (2013) brought even more thrilling cameos, and another Grammy.
In 2015, Glasper reset with Covered, recorded live in Capitol Studios with his original acoustic trio featuring bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid, but his choice in source material was key: John Legend, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, and Kendrick Lamar to name a few. He also composed for Don Cheadle’s Miles Ahead film, plus reinterpreted Davis' catalog on Everything Is Beautiful, which came out earlier in 2016. Which brings us back to the beginning.
When you've earned your bona fides, sure, it makes sense to follow your muse. But along the way, with so many potential paths to take—unplugged or electric, guests or no, jazz or hip-hop or R&B or fusion—how does Glasper always manage to take the listener on exactly the right adventure for exactly the right moment? The answer, it turns out, is a little bit of art and a little bit of science. "I feel like I lick my finger and put it in the air, and see which way the wind is blowing," he says. And when he gets a feel for what's going on, he knows: "Hmm, that's what's needed in the world right now."