‘Cause when I first moved to New York

Listening To Rap With Robert Glasper

Canada Goose sale Robert Glasper straddles two distinct worlds. He’s an accomplished jazz pianist, who was signed to Blue Note Records in his mid twenties. And he works with lots of hip hop and R artists, both in the studio and on the stage: Q Tip, Mos Def and Maxwell, to name a few. Both sides are reflected on his canadian goose jacket 2009 album Double Booked, which captures both his acoustic piano trio and his electrified Robert Glasper Experiment collective. Canada Goose sale

canadian goose jacket Most interviews I’ve read approach Glasper from a jazz angle; I wanted to talk to him about canada goose hip hop. So in late 2009, canada goose clearance sale I sat down to play him five different rap songs and talk about them. At the end, we talked further about the idea of being both canada goose coats in jazz and hip hop worlds at once. I’m happy to finally present the results here. canadian goose jacket

RG: It’s a big band in the sense of we have saxophones, a few trumpets, a few trombones, bass, piano, drums the normal setup of a big band. But we do not traditional big band jazz music, if you will. We do a mixture of old jazz classics, but we also do modern day hip hop stuff. Like, we rearrange stuff we’ve done Ghostface [Killah], stuff like that. We do from Ghostface to Bell Biv DeVoe to Neil Diamond not Neil Diamond well, I wouldn’t doubt Mos would do Neil Diamond. I mean we’ve done so many random [artists], from Radiohead to any genre of music canada goose store that comes to mind. Because he loves all types of music, and everybody in the band loves all types of music. So it’s like a big band, but open to whatever.

buy canada goose jacket cheap PJ: And some of your fellow jazz musicians are in this too. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose uk shop RG: Actually, I called everybody in my phone that I know to be in this band, you know? Pretty much everybody’s a jazz musician, but they’re jazz musicians that are open, that can play other things and get it, you know what I mean? Everybody doesn’t get it, but everybody in this band gets it, so it works out. canada goose uk shop

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PJ: As we speak, this tune is sort of the track of New York City right now. I know you often work with so called “conscious” buy canada goose jacket hip hop artists, fair or not, whatever that term is. But you must have grown up with Jay Z?

cheap canada goose uk RG: Actually, no, because I’m from Houston, Texas. So I didn’t even get into me and my lady always have these disputes, ’cause she’s Brooklyn hardcore, she’s straight hip hop like, born in the Bronx, so we always have these little things. But I’m actually from Houston, so I didn’t get up here until ’97. So I wasn’t a hardcore Jay Z fan or nothin’. cheap canada goose uk

Canada Goose online I wasn’t a hard hip Canada Goose sale hop fan, really, until I got up here and I started meeting these people and seeing it actually live. It was like, Canada Goose Jackets “Aw, man!” I liked hip hop in high school, but I didn’t really get into it and be, like, “Aw, man, I want to do this!” until I got here and got to meet the cats and really get in the vibe. Canada Goose online

But I have played with Jay Z.

uk canada goose PJ: What’s it like? uk canada goose

canada goose uk black friday RG: It was amazing. I’ve never seen that much love for somebody on stage at one time. I was playing Radio City Music Hall on and off, I play with The Roots for special occasions or whatever and Jay Z just came through. Out of nowhere, just came through. They were like, “Do y’all know this song?” And we were like, “Yea, we know, we know it.” So he just walked on stage with this hoodie, and turned around, and the lights were off. And the lights came on, but he still had the hoodie on. And when he took that hoodie off, I’ve never been in the presence of something that canada goose coats on sale major, where the applause, and screaming was like it was ridiculous. He just has so much respect, first of all, and love from people. It was great playing with him. canada goose uk black friday

PJ: I read somewhere that you went to high school with [Jay Z’s wife and collaborator] Beyonce. Do you still keep in touch Canada Goose Outlet with her?

canada goose uk outlet RG: Yea, every now and then.. A bunch of my friends are in her band too, and that whole thing, you know what I mean? Yea, I see her like once a year [laughs], randomly somewhere. I’ve known her for years, and my little cousin LeToya [Luckett] was in canada goose deals Destiny’s Child, and that whole thing. So I’ve been around them and their families. So we’re cool. canada goose uk outlet

canada goose 3. A Tribe Called Quest, “Bonita Applebum” from People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990). canada goose

PJ: So this was 1990. How old were you when you heard this?

RG: It might have been then. I was like, 12, in 1990.

Canada Goose Jackets PJ: Did it http://www.mycanadagoosejacket.org hit you that, you know, this was my sort of thing? Canada Goose Jackets

buy canada goose jacket RG: I liked this. When I first heard this, I liked this. Because what I gravitated to most was hip hop with chord changes, that was really melodic, that had instruments. So those were the kind of things that really grabbed me first. So [A] Tribe Called Quest was the first group that really, I listened to and I gravitated to and I actually bought some of their stuff, like, “Yo, what’s this?” You know, because it had some elements I like, which is, a lot of jazz influence. Even at 12 you know, I had just started playing the piano, so when I heard stuff that had piano in it, I was like, “Yo, what’s that?” I couldn’t identify with too much of what they were talking about, but the music element I really buy canada goose jacket cheap liked. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose clearance sale PJ: You work with Q Tip now too: how’d you come to be working with him? canada goose clearance sale

Canada Goose Parka RG: Actually, I met him when I was with Bilal as well. ‘Cause when I first moved to New York, Bilal was the first cat I met at the New School we both went to college together. We became best friends from that day, you know what I mean? We were always together. So when he got signed, he started meeting a lot of people, doing that, doing that. So I met Tip through him. And then Tip started coming to my shows when I would do random shows, random clubs, jazz gigs and stuff. Tip and Ali Shaheed [Muhammad] would come through, hang out and stuff. And I started going to Ali’s house, recording stuff with him. So we just got that rapport going. Canada Goose Parka

A few years later, he was like, “I’m doing a record will you help me do some stuff on this canada goose black friday sale record?” I was like, “Cool.” So then we did some stuff at his house for the record. And as you know, two of the albums never really came out, and that kind of thing happened. But then this album came out [The Renaissance], and I’m on a few joints on this record, and I actually co wrote the single that’s out now called “Life Is Better” featuring Norah Jones. I did a lot of touring with Tip in the last three years.

PJ: He uses live musicians cheap Canada Goose still. Does he ever talk to you about having a “musical” production sense?

RG: Oh, totally. He’s one of the most musical cats like, MCs it’s funny. I always tease him and Mos [Def], because they both have perfect pitch, and they both can play keys, and Mos plays a little drums too. And they both just have a really good sense of theory when it comes to music as well. I can actually tell them chord changes I always tease Tip, ’cause he’ll be in the middle of a verse and be like, “You know what? When we get to that A flat minor 9, I want you to play ” And I’ll be like, “What? You’re an MC, you’re not supposed to do that.” So it’s really funny. But I have a lot of respect for those guys, because their knowledge of music is huge. And they have a lot of respect for what I do as well. And that’s why canada goose outlet we work well together it’s hard to work with somebody who doesn’t know anything! [laughs] That sucks.