For all of his musical accomplishments, Robert Glasper stands as probably the most versatile but accessible musicians of his technology. In a latest chat, the Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer shared with Hip-Hop Wired his imaginative and prescient of The Black Radio Expertise and bringing the soulful vibes to Napa Valley for Labor Day Weekend.
Robert Glasper has over a dozen releases that span the audio expanses of Jazz, Soul, R&B, Funk, and Hip-Hop. By the use of the world-famous Blue Observe report label, Glasper launched Black Radio in 2012 and it was true to his interpretation of what a Black radio station beneath his watchful route. The preliminary idea led to a Black Radio trilogy that concluded in 2022, and he’s nonetheless reinventing himself as an artist by the use of his newest undertaking, Let Go.
Supply: Marc Fong / Marc Fong
Anybody who has ever attended a Robert Glasper present learns swiftly that he’s, doubtless, a masterful but playful showman whose dexterity as a pianist permits him to open his musical sandbox to a large tapestry of sounds. In our speak with Glasper, we requested him what The Black Radio Expertise means to him and the way he intends to carry these concepts to life within the Wine Nation of Northern California.
“The Black Radio Expertise, similar to you hear on my albums, it’s simply that vibe and you’ll see the competition will function artists which have appeared on the Black Radio albums like Widespread, Jill Scott, Ledisi, Terrace Martin, Derrick Hodge,” Glasper explains.
“It’s not about having the most popular track out or something however a group of artists that make songs that carry these good emotions out. These are artists who promote actual music, love, honesty, and all of that from a Black and soulful perspective. That’s what The Black Radio Expertise is and at all times will likely be,” Glasper added.
Glasper shared that whereas the theme of the Blue Observe Jazz Competition in Napa has maintained that creed for the previous three years, this 12 months’s competition widens the scope with a deal with Black wine manufacturers, cooks bringing curated menu ideas to mild, and making the competition a protected house for celebration of the broad scope of Black creativity that features the humanities and dance as effectively.
“The competition is simply an extension of the love I’ve for the music and the folks and what I got down to do on the primary Black Radio album, which is to say that is what Black radio stations may very well be,” Glasper mentioned.
“After I made that first album, I used to be already immersed in several types of music and enjoying it however committing it to wax was the following step, and through the years with the competition, we’ve been in a position to carry my imaginative and prescient of Black Radio to the levels and present that there’s a lot to us as a artistic folks,” Glasper shared.
Supply: Blue Observe Jazz Competition / Blue Observe Jazz Competition
Among the many headliners for The Blue Observe Jazz Competition Presents: The Black Radio Expertise, which incorporates the aforementioned acts from the albums, is André 3000. Three Stacks has famously moved on from the rapping portion of his profession and leaning into instrumental music by the use of his newest album, New Blue Solar. Glasper says that he discovered the Atlanta artist’s option to strive one thing new inspirational and that was his thought in creating his newest physique of labor, Let Go.
“I had so many individuals inform me that they listened to New Blue Solar and mediated to it or cleaned their home to it, hell, even I did the identical,” Glasper mentioned. “I had folks inform me that they’d do the identical to a few of my music and that was the explanation why I partnered with Apple Music to drop Let Go. I wished to offer listeners one thing to reset their day to and even to encourage myself to take it sluggish.”
Robert Glasper will likely be in Napa, Calif. this Labor Day Weekend for The Blue Observe Jazz Competition Presents: The Black Radio Expertise.
To study extra concerning the competition, click on right here.
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Photograph: Marc Fong/Blue Observe Jazz Competition
