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| Robert Glasper's New Album "Canvas" Canvas puts forth Glasper as a new voice to be reckoned with threefold: as a pianist, as a composer, and as one third of a trio that Ben Ratliff of The New York Times has said “deserves comparison with the best of the newer piano trios, those led by Jason Moran, Bill Charlap and Brad Mehldau.” Ratliff went on: “his group has its own crisp, skittering cooperation, with hip hop in its bounce.” As a pianist, Glasper owns a melodic sense that can mesmerize you and a technique that can scare you, but thankfully he also possesses the innate sense to know exactly which is needed at a given moment. He’s absorbed all the usual influences (Tyner, Hancock, Corea, Jarrett) and yet he exhibits a sound that’s undeniably Glasper, his delicate touch and harmonic sense as recognizable as any of the aforementioned masters. As a composer, a facet of Glasper’s musicianship that there’s no getting around on Canvas with nine of the ten compositions his own (the sole exception being Herbie Hancock’s “Riot” performed as a tempo-and-feel-shifting quartet outing with tenor saxophonist Mark Turner), he demonstrates a flair for the deceptively simplistic. Lovely melodies and chord structures that wind and repeat, flowing so seamlessly from one phrase to the next that it’s easy to lose track of where they begin and end (“Portrait of an Angel” and “Chant, ” the latter of which features the vocal stylings of Bilal). Odd and mixed meters that sound so natural that the casual listener would never suspect that the band is swingin’ in seven (“Jelly’s Da Beener”) or that they’ve moved from 5/4 to 5/8 and back again (“Canvas, ” which also features another of Turner’s remarkable solo turns). As The New York Times put it recently, "There isn't a young musician with more buzz at the moment than Glasper." The word has been spreading about Blue Note's first new jazz artist signing in the past five years, and the press is hotly anticipating his debut. The Blue Note Publicity Dept will be pursuing feature and review coverage in all National and Regional press, indluding Jazz, General Music, Lifestyle, Mainstream, and Urban publications, available TV outlets, and syndicated radio outlets. Those already confirmed for coverage include National publications like NPR Jazz Set, JazzTimes, Down Beat, and JAZZIZ, as well as major Regional publications such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |