Artist: Robert Glasper

Robert Andre Glasper is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger. His artistry bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered on jazz. To date, Glasper has won five Grammy Awards and received eleven nominations across eight categories.  

Glasper's breakout album Black Radio (2012), peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming his highest charting album, and won the Grammy for best R&B album. The following year, he released the album Black Radio 2. Following this, he worked with Kendrick Lamar, playing the keyboard on Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). He would also appear on the soundtrack for the film Miles Ahead.  

Outside of his own musical work, he has co-written and produced on albums by Mac Miller, Anderson. Paak, Banks, Herbie Hancock, Big K.R.I.T., Brittany Howard, Bilal, Denzel Curry, Q-Tip, and Talib Kweli amongst others. He won the 2017 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for his song "A Letter to the Free" featured in Ava DuVernay’s critically hailed documentary,13th, with Common and Karriem Riggins. Glasper also composed the score for the documentary film The Apollo and composed the original score for Issa Rae’s The Photograph.  

Glasper straddles two distinct worlds. He is an accomplished jazz pianist who was signed to Blue Note Records in his mid-twenties. And he works with many hip-hop and R&B artists, both in the studio and on the stage: Q-Tip (musician), Mos Def, and Maxwell, to name a few. Glasper cites Tribe Called Quest as his gateway to hip-hop. 

Glasper's playing career was launched in earnest whilst still studying at The New School, when he started touring as a sideman with some of the established greats of the scene (bassist Christian McBride, and trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove). At the same time, Robert was forging a friendship with his New School-mate Bilal, as well as a musical bond that saw them embedded in a burgeoning hip hop and neo soul movement alongside era-defining artists such as Jill Scott, The Roots, and J Dilla - when Glasper became music director for Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def).  

Glasper released his first album, Mood, in 2002 with Fresh Sound New Talent. Mood features six original compositions alongside versions of the jazz standards including Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage". Primarily a piano trio recording, with Bob Hurst on bass and Damion Reid on drums, the album also features saxophonists Marcus Strickland and John Ellis, along with the vocalist Bilal.  

In 2005, Glasper released his debut on Blue Note Records, Canvas, with what was to become his quintessential piano trio lineup of Vicente Archer on bass and Damion Reid on drums. The album features nine original compositions alongside a cover of Herbie Hancock's "Riot". His third album, In My Element, was released in 2007.  

Glasper's 2009 album, Double-Booked, is divided between songs performed by Glasper in an acoustic piano trio format, and his groundbreaking electric group, The Experiment, with Derrick Hodge, Casey Benjamin, and Chris "Daddy" Dave. In February 2012, Glasper released his fifth and seminal album, Black Radio, which featured performances by a lineup of neo-soul and hip-hop artists including Lupe Fiasco, Bilal, Lalah Hathaway, Erykah Badu, and Yasiin Bey. Black Radio went on to win the 2013 Grammy for best R&B album. In October 2013, Glasper released Black Radio 2. The core remained the Robert Glasper Experiment.