Pianist's experimental side visiting city

Enlarge Image

Glasper explores a blend of jazz, hip hop, soul and R&B in his Experiment, which he says draws a younger audience. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

There are (at least) two musical sides to Robert Glasper, but it's not hard to jump back and forth, the pianist says.

"My playing is still the same; both (styles) are a natural part of me," he said in an interview from his New York home before embarking on a North American tour that includes Winnipeg.

Winnipeg fans get to see the Robert Glasper Experiment side on Feb. 19 at West End Cultural Centre as part of Jazz Winnipeg's winter concert series. The Robert Glasper Trio performed here in June at the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.

The trio is Glasper's more mainstream, conventional jazz configuration or, as he puts it: "My version of traditional jazz."

The Experiment, on the other hand, is the band he uses to explore a blend of jazz, hip hop, soul and R&B.

Glasper describes the Experiment's musical mélange as a "natural progression -- music that is influenced by what's going on in the street at the time. That's what changes jazz." The music has moved through "bebop, hard bop, free jazz, fusion; jazz shouldn't be held down by anything," the pianist says.

"Miles (Davis) was good at making that move -- whatever the new sound was," the 33-year-old Glasper adds. "I'm just making the music of the society I live in, people my age."

The Experiment draws a younger, college audience that is conversant with hip hop and soul, he says. "The trio gets the same crowd, plus an older jazz crowd." But then "the trio is not your average jazz trio. There is something for everyone in the trio," Glasper adds.

Jazz audiences are getting younger, the pianist says. "Certain people bring out a younger audience with what they play. Some people attract an older audience. If you put out a carrot, you'll get rabbits," he says of younger fans.

But he warns: "Don't put random stuff in your music, like hip hop, because the audience will know. Don't do it just to try to be hip. Just play whatever you honestly like."

Glasper is also writing for a jazz orchestra, what he calls a one-off project. "That's a whole lot of work and writing, but I work at it when I can."

The Experiment is releasing its first stand alone recording this month, Black Radio. Glasper's 2009 release Double Booked was half a trio disc and half an Experiment disc.

The Robert Glasper Experiment performs Feb. 19, 8 p.m., at West End Cultural Centre. Tickets, $25 advance/$30 door, are available at www.jazzwinnipeg.com, 989-4656, at the Jazz Winnipeg office (007-100 Arthur St.) or the West End Cultural Centre.

-- -- --

Help the Keith Price Trio kick off a western Canadian tour on Tuesday, at Mardi Jazz at Centre culturel franco-manitobain, 8:30-11:30 p.m. Guitarist Price recently released Gaia/Goya. The trio will perform Wednesday in Brandon then travel to Edmonton, Kelowna, Field, B.C., Lethbridge and Calgary.

-- -- --

The Yves Léveillé Quartet, led by the titular Montreal pianist and composer, performs 8 p.m. Thursday at West End Cultural Centre.

Léveillé -- along with saxophonist Roberto Murray, bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer Alain Bastien -- recently released a new CD, Chorégraphie, the pianist's sixth as a leader.

The CD has some great playing by all band members and good writing and arranging by Léveillé, which bodes well for a fine concert here.

Tickets: $16 advance / $20 door from West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader and The Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store.

-- -- --

Montreal saxophonist Christine Jensen and Winnipeg vocalist Lianne Fournier join the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, Feb. 12, for a little pre-Valentine's Day romance with L'amour, Toujours, L'amour.

Jensen's latest recording, Treelines, by the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra won a 2011 Juno Award. Fournier performs with her band Trivocals as well as a solo career.

The WJO performs at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Feb, 12. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Tickets, $29.50 / $15, are available from winnipegjazzorchestra.com, 632-5299, McNally Robinson Booksellers and at the door.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2012 D3