Black Radio

ROBERT GLASPER: Black Radio
Blue Note, 2012

NEO-SOUL/HIPHOP/JAZZ – For years, pianist Robert Glasper has led a double life: playing flowing modern jazz with his Trio, then diving into trippy, J Dilla-influenced mashups of r&b, hiphop and future-jazz with his Experiment group. Now for the first time the Robert Glasper Experiment gets a full CD all to itself, with a parade of guest vocalists like Erykah Badu, Bilal, Meshell Ndegeocello and Lalah Hathaway joining the sweet electric-soul haze of the core quartet. It’s blissed-out, sexy, vocoder-drenched goodness.

Fo’s Picks: Soul: 3, 5, 6 Jazz: 2 Hiphop: 10

Note: tracks 1, 5, 8, 9, 10 fade out early, have silence, then an outro section
1. 3:57 – spoken intro to the album over a hazy sunshine groove / mic checks
2. 5:07 – sexy, slinky take on a jazz standard; purring Erykah Badu vocal
3. 5:51 – Sade tune, great late-nite neo-soul groove & Lalah Hathaway vocal
4. 5:22 – sweet piano into hiphop-soul: Lupe Fiasco rap (multiple FCCs)
5. 6:11 – killer Ledisi multitrack vocal; buoyant, uplifting groove / spoken outro
6. 3:18 – whispery trio vocal over catchy, sunlit hiphop-soul groove
7. 5:08 – sinuous duet vocal over stutter-thump groove… wish it was just Chrisette Michele singing here, she’s fantastic.
8. 6:07 – slow, spaced-out jam, hushed Meshell Ndegeocello vocal
9. 6:31 – a cappella start; bursts into soaring upbeat flight, jazzy breaks
10. 5:25 – percussive Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) rap & singing over minimal groove
11. 4:51 – David Bowie ballad: tender, aching samba with fragile Bilal vocal
12. 7:24 – Nirvana hit drifts through a long, drugged haze, gets trippy & blippy

[ Fo ] - March 2012