Glasper's understated piano filigree provides the proverbial icing.Ī remarkable reimagining of Sade's “Cherish the Day” features the all-enveloping vocals of Lalah Hathaway and a bass line that's so far off the stave it's felt more as subliminal presence than pitch, the whole bathed in a kind of ambient glow. Ironing out the song's characteristic cross-rhythms into a ridiculously smooth 4/4 groove (take a bow, bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer Chris Dave), the call-and-response exchanges between vocalist Erykah Badu and flautist Casey Benjamin possess a hypnotic beauty. The Glasper aesthetic is clearly laid out on Mongo Santamaria's classic “Afro Blue”. Given his huge talent, it is no surprise that Robert Glasper’s arrangements of these hours of jazz, soul and hip-hop recordings make for a totally exhilarating experience.With three Blue Note albums in the bag - Canvas (2005), In My Element (2007) and the Grammy-nominated Double Booked (2009) - the pianist clearly feels he's demonstrated his bona fide jazz chops, and devotes this first full-length album from his Experiment project to the art of the song, rather than the solo. Listening to Fuck Yo Feelings is like being a fly on the wall to this informal jam session one that brings together exciting, inspired moments with more off-the-cuff and almost unfinished-seeming melodies. Mos Def), Bilal, Denzel Curry, Rapsody, Mick Jenkins, Terrace Martin, SiR, not forgetting the incredible Herbie Hancock, Glasper’s nearly-80-year-old idol and a true pioneer of genre fusion.
The result is an improvised stream of music lasting over 70 minutes, spread across 19 tracks and featuring a rather mind-blowing line up including Yassin Bey (a.k.a. It is the fruit of a few hours spent at Hollywood’s Henson Studios with a group of cherry-picked friends, who set off with no roadmap or instruction manual. There is nothing prefabricated about this approach, something that becomes evident on Fuck Yo Feelings which feels more like a mixtape than a real album. Spending his time ripping off the “jazz pianist” label that has been stuck on his back, the American has paved the way for a whole generation of musicians seeking to inject jazz into soul, rap and any other genre for that matter. In fact, Robert Glasper seems to have made it his raison d'être. This is not the first time he has planted dynamite on stylistic borders. Your browser does not support the audio element. Given his huge talent, it is no surprise that Robert Glasper’s arrangements of these hours of jazz, soul and hip-hop recordings make for a totally exhilarating experience.
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