 On Saturday, December 5 at 8:30 p.m., in Zankel Hall, two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist Robert Glasper reunites with his lauded acoustic trio for an evening of genre-busting, improvisational jazz. The pianist, noted by The Wall Street Journal for performing “anything he chooses with feeling and technical brilliance,” plays alongside Vicente Archer on bass and Damion Reid on drums.
Glasper, Archer, and Reid—who form the original trio featured on Glasper’s first two Blue Note albums Canvas (2005) and In My Element (2007), reconvened late last year at the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California to record Covered, a return to Glasper’s acoustic jazz roots. The material mainly consists of covers, drawing from some of Glasper’s favorite songs by Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, John Legend, Kendrick Lamar, and more, as well as several Glasper originals. About Robert Glasper In 2009, Glasper released the forward-thinking album Double Booked, which featured a mix of modal post-bop and funky, ’80s Herbie Hancock-inspired numbers with two separate bands. The first of these was his trio with drummer Chris Dave and upright bassist Vicente Archer; they recorded five originals and a cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One.” These tracks were followed by five more originals by his electric band, dubbed the Robert Glasper Experiment, featuring Dave, electric bassist Derrick Hodge, and Casey Benjamin on saxes and vocoder. In 2012, the Robert Glasper Experiment (with a slew of all-star guest vocalists) issued their first stand-alone album, Black Radio, for Blue Note, which sought to blur boundaries between jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock & roll; it entered the Billboard jazz charts at number one. Later in the year, Glasper and Blue Note released Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP; 9th Wonder, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Pete Rock were among those who participated. In 2013, the Robert Glasper Experiment (now including Hodge and Benjamin with drummer Mark Colenburg) returned with their equally star-studded sophomore album, Black Radio 2. In addition to releasing Covered for Blue Note in June 2015, Glasper has been busy with a wide variety of musical pursuits. He recently finished composing and recording the score for Miles Ahead, actor/director Don Cheadle’s upcoming film about Miles Davis. For a separate project, Glasper was also given unique access to Davis’s Columbia Records vaults, from which he’s assembling a remix album, crafting new music from the legendary trumpeter’s recordings, rehearsals, and outtakes, and he has produced a new tribute album to Nina Simone in conjunction with an upcoming documentary about the singer. He’s also been named an official Steinway artist, joining a select group of world-class pianists who have chosen to perform exclusively on the family of Steinway-designed pianos. Program Information This concert and the Shape of Jazz series are made possible by The Joyce and George Wein Foundation in memory of Joyce Wein. Presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC.
Image of at top of release courtesy of Carnegie Hall |
