Robert Glasper

Robert Glasper stands out as a jazz pianist drawn to understated yet harmonically intricate pieces that quietly weave in hip-hop textures. Since emerging as a bandleader in the mid-2000s, the Houston-born musician has played a central role in keeping Blue Note Records vital, regularly claiming the top spot on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart through his collaborative efforts for the imprint, notably the Grammy-winning Black Radio (2011) and Black Radio 2 (2013), plus ArtScience (2016), all issued under the Robert Glasper Experiment banner. Beyond steering the Miles Ahead soundtrack—itself a Grammy recipient—and R+R=Now’s Collagically Speaking, he has lent his touch to countless sessions spanning multiple styles, including Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. After signing with Loma Vista Recordings, Glasper issued the 2019 mixtape Fuck Yo Feelings, which captures his commitment to defying expectations and embracing improvisation, along with the Grammy-winning Black Radio III (2022), an evolution of his earlier Blue Note work. The 2023 single “Back to Love,” a Grammy-nominated duet with SiR and Alex Isley, preceded the 2024 releases Let Go (featuring Meshell Ndegeocello), the jazz-remix collection Code Derivation, and the seasonal set In December.

Born in Houston in 1976, Glasper began playing piano early under the guidance of his mother, a gospel pianist and singer. He performed both in church and at school, studying classical and jazz at Elkins High School in Missouri City before completing his sophomore year at Houston’s High School for the Performing Arts. At the New School University in Manhattan he pursued music studies while gaining stage experience alongside bassist Christian McBride, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and additional leading figures. Following graduation he appeared on recordings and live dates with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, vocalist Carly Simon, and rapper Mos Def. His first album, Mood, surfaced in 2004 on Fresh Sound New Talent, with Canvas arriving in 2005 and In My Element in 2007, both on Blue Note.

In 2009 Glasper delivered the forward-looking Double Booked, pairing modal post-bop with funky pieces recalling 1980s Herbie Hancock and employing two distinct ensembles. His acoustic trio—drummer Chris Dave and upright bassist Vicente Archer—recorded five originals plus a version of Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One,” after which his electric group, introduced as Robert Glasper Experiment and featuring Dave, electric bassist Derrick Hodge, and Casey Benjamin on saxophones and vocoder, contributed five further originals. Vocalist Bilal joined on “All Matter,” Glasper’s initial Grammy-nominated track in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category.

Three years afterward Robert Glasper Experiment, augmented by numerous guest vocalists, released their debut independent album Black Radio on Blue Note, an effort aimed at dissolving lines separating jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock & roll. The project debuted at number one on the jazz chart and captured a Grammy for Best R&B Album. Later that year Glasper and the label put out Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP, which enlisted 9th Wonder, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Pete Rock among its contributors. The following year the Experiment—now including Hodge and Benjamin alongside drummer Mark Colenburg—returned with the similarly guest-heavy Black Radio 2. Although nominated for Best R&B Album, the set did not win; its cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America” nevertheless earned Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Glasper then revisited his original acoustic trio format with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid. They recorded the 2015 live album Covered at Capitol Studios before an invited audience. Its advance single, a reading of Radiohead’s “Reckoner,” appeared in April, followed two months later by the full release, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. During the same period Glasper contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night. For Don Cheadle’s 2016 Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead he assembled the soundtrack, incorporating work from Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Gary Clark, Jr., while supplying original compositions; the album later won that year’s Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. He also completed the Davis tribute Everything’s Beautiful, timed to the trumpeter’s would-be 90th birthday and featuring reinterpretations of classic material alongside Stevie Wonder, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Erykah Badu, Hiatus Kaiyote, and John Scofield. The set, led by the Bilal-fronted single “Ghetto Walkin’,” was released that May.

Early in 2016 Robert Glasper Experiment reconvened with a fresh approach: instead of drawing on Glasper’s preexisting material or outside covers, the quartet composed and arranged collectively in the studio. The resulting ArtScience appeared in September and again reached number one on the Jazz Albums chart. Glasper subsequently collaborated with August Greene (joining Karriem Riggins and Common) and R+R=Now (with Christian Scott, Derrick Hodge, Justin Tyson, Terrace Martin, and Taylor McFerrin), the latter group formed by the pianist himself. In the first half of 2018 August Greene issued its self-titled album while R+R=Now released Collagically Speaking. These projects coincided with Glasper’s expanding side work as instrumentalist and producer on albums by Royce da 5'9", Shafiq Husayn, Philip Bailey, Flying Lotus, and Brittany Howard.

Casual recording sessions involving a wide range of players, singers, and rappers were compiled into the 2019 mixtape Fuck Yo Feelings, Glasper’s first release for Loma Vista. He next supplied music for Stella Meghie’s 2020 romantic drama The Photograph, issued that February. Also in 2020 he joined Terrace Martin, 9th Wonder, and Kamasi Washington for Dinner Party and previewed Black Radio III with “Better Than I Imagined,” featuring Meshell Ndegeocello and H.E.R. At the subsequent Grammy ceremony Fuck Yo Feelings earned a nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album, while “Better Than I Imagined” won Best R&B Song.

Glasper appeared on projects by Ledisi, Common, Martin, and Flying Lotus before finishing Black Radio III. In contrast to the first two volumes, each tracked in a single week, the third installment was assembled remotely over the course of a year. It surfaced in February 2022 with additional appearances by Lalah Hathaway, Q-Tip, and Jennifer Hudson, and included “Therapy, Pt. 2,” a sequel to Mac Miller’s 2014 track “Therapy” from the mixtape Faces. Black Radio III topped both the Billboard Jazz and Contemporary Jazz Albums charts and received the Grammy for Best R&B Album at the 65th Annual ceremony in 2023.

That same year Glasper released the single “Back to Love” featuring SiR and Alex Isley. The track appeared on his soundtrack for the second season of Run the World and garnered nominations for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

A new full-length, Let Go, emerged in June 2024 as an Apple Music exclusive. Conceived as a calm, reflective work, it featured drummer Kendrick Scott, bassist Burniss Travis, and guitarist Chris Sholar, with Meshell Ndegeocello guesting on “Breathing Underwater.” Remaining active, Glasper also issued Code Derivation, another fusion of hip-hop and jazz that paired performances by his ensemble with subsequent remixes or “flips” by producers including Hi-Tek, Black Milk, and Karriem Riggins. He further compiled live recordings from his extended residency at New York’s Blue Note jazz club for Keys to the City: Volume One and closed the year with the holiday collection In December, which spotlighted PJ Morton, Andra Day, the Baylor Project, and additional guests.