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From Blue Note:
ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT ANNOUNCES FEB. 28RELEASE OF BLACK RADIO
FEATURING ERYKAH BADU, BILAL, LUPE FIASCO,LALAH HATHAWAY,
LEDISI, MOS DEF, MUSIQ SOULCHILD, MESHELLNDEGEOCELLO & OTHERS
OnFebruary 28, 2012, Robert Glasper Experiment will release BlackRadio (Blue Note Records/EMI), a future landmark album that boldlystakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawingfrom jazz, hip hop, R&B and rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any onetag. The first full-length album from the GRAMMY-nominated keyboardist’selectric Experiment band—saxist Casey Benjamin, bassist Derrick Hodge,and drummer Chris Dave—Black Radio also features many ofGlasper’s famous friends from the spectrum of urban music, seamlesslyincorporating appearances from a jaw-dropping roll call of special guestsincluding Erykah Badu, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, LalahHathaway, Shafiq Husayn (Sa-Ra), KING, Ledisi, ChrisetteMichele, Mos Def, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello,and Stokley Williams (Mint Condition).
Throughoutthe Experiment wears its eclecticism on its sleeve, presenting newcollaborative originals and surprising cover songs. They transform theAfro-Cuban standard “Afro Blue” with Erykah Badu, Sade’s “Cherish The Day” withLalah Hathaway, David Bowie’s “Letter to Hermione” with Bilal, and Nirvana’s“Smells Like Teen Spirit” with Casey Benjamin’s vocoder vocal.
Glasperhas long kept one foot planted firmly in jazz and the other in hip hop. His gigat the Blue Note Jazz Club earlier this year became a freestyle jam sessionwhen Kanye West, Mos Defand Lupe Fiasco crashed the stage. The Los Angeles Times once wrotethat “it's a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a JDilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover, but not many jazz pianists areRobert Glasper,” adding that “he's equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hopand jazz,” and praising the organic way in which he “builds a bridge betweenhis two musical touchstones.”
Thetrack listing for Black Radio is as follows:
01 LiftOff/Mic Check (featuring Shafiq Husayn)
02 AfroBlue (featuring Erykah Badu)
03 CherishThe Day (featuring Lalah Hathaway)
04 AlwaysShine (featuring Lupe Fiasco & Bilal)
05 GonnaBe Alright (F.T.B.) (featuring Ledisi)
06 MoveLove (featuring KING)
07 AhYeah (featuring Musiq Soulchild & Chrisette Michele)
08 ConsequenceOf Jealousy (featuring Meshell Ndegeocello)
09 WhyDo We Try (featuring Stokley Williams)
10 BlackRadio (featuring Mos Def)
11 Letterto Hermoine (featuring Bilal)
12 SmellsLike Teen Spirit
* * *
Growingup in Houston, Texas, Robert Glasper had a strong musical influence in hismother, who played piano and sang gospel music in church as well as in jazz andblues clubs in Houston. By the age of twelve, he was playing piano in churchand often accompanied his mother in clubs. Raised on gospel, Motown, andR&B, by his teens he was listening to jazz, rock, pop and hip hop. Heattended the Houston High School for the Performing Arts and moved to New YorkCity to study at New School University. While still in school he was alreadyplaying with Christian McBride and Kenny Garrett, and went on to play withNicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, and Roy Hargrove.Afterreleasing his debut album Mood on the Fresh Sound label in 2003 followedby two buzzed about Blue Note albums with his acoustic Trio—Canvas(2005) and In My Element (2007)—Glasper perfectly captured his uniqueduality with Double-Booked (2009), an album that juxtaposed his Trio andExperiment bands, and earned the keyboardist his first GRAMMY nomination.
He’sworked extensively with Q-Tip, playing keyboards on the rapper’sGRAMMY-nominated 2008 album The Renaissance and co-writing the albumsingle “Life Is Better” which featured his labelmate Norah Jones. Glasper alsoserves as the Music Director in rapper Mos Def’s touring band, and has touredwith the multi-platinum R&B singer Maxwell. New York Magazine hascalled his music “direct, forceful, inventive, and accessible withoutpandering.”
