Robert Glasper Bilal At NPR Musics 10th Anniversary Concert

Robert Glasper s music is a study in convergences. A pianist, bandleader and composer with a strong foothold in modern jazz, he belongs no less to the terrain of contemporary gospel, alternative hiphop and R B, the category under which he won his first two Grammy awards (of three). Glasper has carved a signature out of this crossgenre dialogue; consult his recent explainer for Jazz Night in America, about the jazz roots of some famous hiphop samples. At NPR Music s 10th Anniversary Concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D. C., Glasper came to play, bringing longtime associate Derrick Hodge on electric bass and a newer collaborator, Justin Tyson, on drums. The performance began with something like an invocation, as Hodge played a chiming and meditative elaboration on Portrait of Tracy, a ballad by Jaco Pastorius. What came next was an unbilled guest: Bilal, the shapeshifting R B vocalist who has known Glasper since the first day of freshman year at the New School