Tonight, 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.
Hailing from Houston, Texas,
Robert Glasper is a jazz pianist with a knack for mellow, harmonically complex compositions that also reveal a subtle hip-hop influence. Inspired to play piano by his mother, a gospel pianist and vocalist, Glasper attended Houston's High School for the Performing Arts. After graduation, he studied music at The New School in Manhattan, where he found performance work with such luminaries as bassist
Christian McBride, saxophonist
Kenny Garrett, and others. After graduating college, Glasper worked with a variety of artists, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, vocalist
Carly Simon, and rapper
Mos Def. The pianist released his debut album, Mood, on Fresh Sound New Talent in 2004. Canvas and In My Element followed in 2005 and 2007, respectively, on Blue Note Records.
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:
Saturday, December 5 at 8:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
ROBERT GLASPER TRIO
•• Robert Glasper, Piano
•• Vicente Archer, Bass
•• Damion Reid, Drums
This concert and the Shape of Jazz series are made possible by The Joyce and
George Wein Foundation in memory of Joyce Wein.
Tickets, priced at $44 and $52, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online by visiting carnegiehall.org.
For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit
carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.
Image of at top of release courtesy of Carnegie Hall
