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  5590142CD  £10.00

Robert Glasper

Black Radio

According to Cole Porter’s song Now You Has Jazz, “jazz is king ’cause jazz is the thing folks dig best”. Times have changed since he wrote that in 1956, and not for the better as far as jazz musicians are concerned.
“We’re the only music that competes against dead people,” laments pianist and bandleader Robert Glasper, a burly, bearded figure in jeans and a heavy leather jacket. “Whenever I put a record out I’m number one on iTunes, but after about a month Miles Davis and John Coltrane come along and beat me.
“It’s very weird, but it tells you that the majority of the jazz audience is older, and it’s not a younger audience who’s buying it.”
Glasper’s solution has been to fashion his own eclectic musical mix, based in jazz but drawing equally from hip hop, with infusions of contemporary R&B and alternative rock. His new album, Black Radio, presents a series of voyages to exotic aural destinations, with help from a stellar guest-list of vocalists, including Erykah Badu, Lupe Fiasco, Meshell Ndegeocello and Mos Def.
The disc stretches from ambient funkiness to floating balladry with some impressionistic jazz and R&B in between, and even makes room for a cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. It’s hard to find a single word or phrase that describes it, but Glasper’s view is that his music embodies the questing, innovative spirit that has always been at the core of jazz. In other words, “jazz” doesn’t automatically have to mean historical figures such as Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker, as some authorities would have us believe.

Tracklist

• 01 – Lift Off Mic Check (Feat. Shafiq Husayn)
  02 – Afro Blue (Feat. Eryka Badu)
  03 – Cherish The Day (Feat. Lalah Hathaway)
  04 – Always Shine (Feat. Lupe Fiasco And Bilal)
  05 – Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.) (Feat. Ledisi)
  06 – Move Love (Feat. KING)
  07 – Ah Yeah (Feat. Musiq Soulchild And Chrisette Michele)
  08 – Consequence Of Jealousy (Feat. Meshell Ndegeocello)
  09 – Why Do We Try (Feat. Stokley Williams)
  10 – Black Radio (Feat. Mos Def)
  11 – Letter To Hermoine (Feat. Bilal)
  12 – Smells Like Teen Spirit