Music

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

It’s young, it’s hip and still great jazz

By: Chris Smith

Posted: 02/21/2012 10:27 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

PIANIST Robert Glasper can be a conundrum.

He is the one who moves his music away from straight jazz by adding the sounds of his generation — hip hop, funk, and soul — especially with his Robert Glasper Experiment band.

ConcertReview

Robert Glasper Experiment

Jazz Winnipeg Winter Concert Series
West End Cultural Centre
Feb. 19
Four stars out of five

Yet, he is also the one who provides the solid jazz underpinning that makes it work. The Experiment does what many other jazz bands have done over the years by mixing in more modern sounds, the sounds heard in the street.

It’s a healthy sign when younger jazz musicians (Glasper, 33, also fronts a jazz trio) incorporate music that freshens the genre and attracts new, younger listeners. The audience at the New York-based pianist’s Sunday night show at the West End Cultural Centre was predominantly young.

It’s not that Glasper, Mark Colenburg on drums, Derrick Hodge on bass and Casey Benjamin on saxophones, keytar and vocorder ignored the jazz canon.

Their opening tune was John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, a classic piece from a classic album, but which took on a different vibe with Benjamin singing the A Love Supreme chant from the original through the vocorder.

Glasper, on piano and Rhodes electric piano, is a superb soloist; and whatever you call his music, if you isolated his solos you’d have a great jazz outing.

Benjamin is a good soprano and alto saxophonist, but he could have played more of them Sunday night. What he did play was excellent.

Hodge is as funky an electric bassist as you’ll come across and he fell into the pocket with ease and produced some good solos, although one just... went... on... too... long. Colenburg was a wonder on the drum set whether playing funk, hip-hop or jazz beats. He and Hodge made a dynamic rhythm section.

Glasper played more piano than Rhodes and one unaccompanied solo, very jazzy, stands out among the many solos he took over a set that included music by Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock and Nirvana. The Experiment is releasing its first stand-alone recording, Black radio, next Tuesday.

Winnipeg’s Keith Price Trio opened the show with its own eclectic mix of material ranging from Neil Young to Pink Floyd to Mos def.

Guitarist Price played a very good instrumental version of Young’s Old Man and he and band mates Julian Bradford on bass and Curtis Nowosad on drums were in the groove after returning from a two-week western Canadian tour.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca

(You must be logged in to post your reaction)

Your reaction?

More Music

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.