The Robert Glasper Experiment took shape as a quartet anchored by jazz pianist Robert Glasper, initially comprising bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Chris Dave from Glasper’s acoustic trio, and Casey Benjamin on saxophones and vocoder. Their first appearance occupied one disc of Glasper’s two-disc set Double Booked, which Blue Note issued in 2009. While the acoustic trio filled the opening half, the Experiment occupied the remaining portion with a mixture of neo-soul, hip-hop, and jazz-funk. The group remained receptive to vocal collaborations. On the second album and first standalone project, Black Radio, released by Blue Note in February 2012, contributors included vocalists Bilal, Ledisi, Erykah Badu, and Lalah Hathaway along with rappers Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, and Shafiq Husayn. In 2013 the Robert Glasper Experiment, now featuring drummer Mark Colenburg with Hodge and Benjamin retained, released the similarly guest-laden follow-up Black Radio 2. The band spent the next two years touring internationally. Glasper reverted to his original acoustic piano trio format for the 2015 live album Covered, captured at Capitol Studios, and contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. He also supplied original compositions and assembled the soundtrack for Don Cheadle’s 2016 Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. Early in 2016 the Experiment entered the studio with a revised method, writing and arranging collectively for the first time. The resulting album ArtScience appeared in September, preceded by the singles “Day to Day” and “Thinkin’ About You.”
