“Why are you on stage grilling people?” pianist Robert Glasper jokingly questions his more austere peers. “People are coming to see you after they get off work, so they don’t want to come to see you work. ”
The loose performer, whose trio hits the Jazz Standard this week after countless months on the road, evinces an engaging stage persona that harkens back to his church-accompanying Houston teens. “Gospel music really is about touching people,” Glasper explains. “I grew up in that and knowing the importance of that. I didn’t start out with jazz, so it’s not all about the chops and how fast you can get around your instrument.”
But with choice stints with Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove, and two well received albums under his belt, the most recent for the estimable and selective Blue Note label, the young musician’s chops are not in question. Last year’s Canvas witnessed Glasper, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid lucidly articulating nine Glasper originals plus Herbie Hancock’s “Riot.” The emotive collection began with Glasper’s anticipatory tinkling on “Rise & Shine” and ended with “I Remember,” an elegy for Glasper is late mother featuring soul singer Bilal’s subtle scatting—a complexity of sentiment and sound owed in part to Glasper’s tour of duty with Bilal’s band during his college years at The New School.
“I just learned to really love the groove,” Glasper recalls. A groove sustained in spot dates with Carly Simon, Mos Def, Sa-Ra Creative Partners and an extended gig as veteran hip-hopper Q-tip’s keyboardist. Committed to the vitality of the jazz form, Glasper’s promising to credibly engage hip-hop on his, as yet untitled, spring 2007 release—a challenge that has felled many a jazz musician.
“Some people might turn their nose up when they hear this new record,” he admits. “I think this is probably the first album to really have some real honest to goodness … hip-hop shit. But at the same time, you go to the next track and it’s some real jazz shit. There is not a weak link anywhere.”
Armed with this flexibility and aplomb, Glasper sees himself rousing prospective young jazz audiences while sating stalwart fans. Take for example his trio’s pensive medley of Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place” and Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” a mainstay of its live performance, or its tribute to hip-hop producer J Dilla—both featured on the forthcoming album. Glasper’s music is certainly approachable, and he’s always poised to entertain.
“At my shows,” says Glasper, “You’ll probably laugh, and you’ll probably cry. It’s like a Broadway show.”
Dec. 19-21, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St. (betw. Park & Lexington Aves.), 212-576-2232; 7:30 & 9:30, $25. (Robert Glasper Experiment Dec. 22-23)
