Grammy Awards were given to his Robert Glasper Experiment albums Black Radio and Black Radio 2, which fuse jazz, hip-hop, and groove-oriented music.
Let’s explore Glasper’s distinct approach before the 25 February release of Black Radio 3.
How do you play chords like Robert Glasper?
Robert Glasper, a jazz pianist and composer from Houston, Texas, made his debut on the music scene in 2005 and was soon signed to Blue Note Records. Let’s talk a look on how to play chords like Robert.
Glasper’s work on his rendition of the Joni Mitchell song “Barangrill” has an effect on Ex. 1. Glasper performs delicate melodies over a pedal point that alternates between major and minor tonalities throughout the beginning.
Another method Glasper frequently employs is a right-hand ostinato that repeats over a bassline that descends in Ex. 2. Keep in mind that the right hand’s notes are all in the D Dorian key (D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D).
Glasper uses syncopated chords that are also moving over a descending bassline, as shown in Example 3.
In Ex. 4, we look at voicings constructed using the second’s “crunchy” interval. The right hand’s lowest two notes in the first two bars are composed of second intervals, which produce a satisfying crunch on top of which the other thirds are placed to create well-balanced jazz voicings.
In Ex. 5, which was influenced by Glasper’s solo on the ancient jazz standard Stella by Starlight, eighth-note lines are paired with descending minor ninth chords. Keep in mind that we are employing minor ninth voicings that decrease by half steps in the left hand. With the exception of a few chromatic notes, the right hand lines are directly derived from the corresponding Dorian mode.