AUTHOR: Lethabo Malatji

The Black Radio trilogy by Robert Glasper finds itself at the cusp of this shift in jazz music and how we hear jazz music. Glasper infuses these records with hip-hop, R&B, and soul music. While simultaneously paying homage to the music that surrounded him both growing up and during his college years at The New School. During his years at The New School, Glasper was surrounded by the illuminating sounds of Neo-Soul and conscious rap while collaborating with artists from the hip-hop/soul collective such as The Soulaquarians. With features from hip-hop and soul luminaries like Common, Yasiin Bey,and Erykah Badu, Glasper pays tribute to a specific time in hip-hop where rappers and singers wrote and rhymed with the intention of reflecting the times.

Glasper does this not only with the words sung on the albums but with the melodies that accompany them too. Although he is a jazz musician, Glasper is set on shifting the paradigm of what jazz music ought to be. When creating the first Black Radio album, Glasper mentioned that he felt like jazz music was stagnant in a way that felt like a lot of current jazz musicians are always paying tribute to artists like Coltrane and Bird while also, if not always, playing jazz standards. Although there’s beauty in that, you can’t really grow as an artist, express yourself, and really tell the world who you are through your music if you’re playing music that is not your own.

Glasper, through collaboration and combining various elements of Black music, separates what “typical” jazz sounds like to tell a story of not only who he is as an artist but where he wants to take jazz music. Through the Black Radio trilogy, Glasper is able to reimagine and redefine what it means to be a jazz artist, not only through who he collaborates with but also how he composes the songs. He doesn’t complete this task in isolation. With key collaborators such as Casey Benjamin, Mark Colenburg, Derrick Hodge, and Chris Dave, and the formation of 'The Robert Glasper Experiment’, it all comes together. All these artists in the band have different musical and personal backgrounds and are able to bring their own history and sense individuality to the records. Casey, for example, whose musical roots are in rock music (and not church like everyone else in the group) adds a unique flair to the records because he is used to playing and singing rock music. Glasper is not only able to set the pace for what he wants to change in jazz music, but he also makes it a point to communicate to listeners from all walks of life the story of his journey.

Playing for audiences that are both young and old, Glasper through the Black Radio trilogy radiates both love and joy on both cover and original songs on the albums, with songs such as ‘Jesus Children’, ‘Gonna Be Alright', and ‘Shine’. These songs not only radiate both love and joy, but they are anthems that reassure people from all areas of society in these extremely uncertain times. Living in a country strained with issues such as racism and misogyny, Glasper makes it a point to speak about how these problems plague Black America and its community. On songs like ‘Black Superhero', Glasper creates room to celebrate Black women. Towards the end of the song, someone mentions in conversation that “of all the fact that the Black woman is actually the goddess on this planet (absolutely), the mitochondrial information that's read was to create every type of man that exists on this planet is derivative of hers (absolutely)." After someone else previously mentioned that “You know, just the idea of how Black men in this culture and society get framed. And everything possible is designed to actually diminish what your true power is, right? And so, when you speak about the superhero-ness of our communities, every ghetto, every block, every street corner really, all of those men are God; they're just living in a reality that tears them down and makes them feel as though they're not what they actually are because they know it when they look in the mirror." It is all about celebrating Black people and making it a point that something needs to be done about the issues that riddle communities in Black America because they continue to affect not only their lives but their interpersonal relationships. Additionally, in these songs, Glasper adds that the issues that plague Black America are not only generational but that they are systematic problems too. However, through conversations with likeminded individuals and shared community, an opportunity to heal these problems is presented. 

The title Black Radio emerged from a conversation Glasper had with Yasiin Bey when they were speaking about the black box, a device that survives aeroplane crashes and later provides people with information about what happened during the plane crash. Later, Yasiin joked and mentioned that if the black box survives, why don’t people make the whole aeroplane out of that so that there’s no plane crash? Glasper named the album Black Radio and used the aeroplane analogy as a metaphor for music. Mentioning that when you are surrounded by bad music that is crashing and burning, good music survives. Real music is not only crash-protected, but it also stands the test of time. Referencing the works of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, and Michael Jackson, Glasper alludes to the fact that their albums stood the test of time because they were honest records about themselves, their lives, and the times they were living in. With the Black Radio trilogy, it is safe to say that Glasper wanted the same thing for himself and his music. Ensuring that his music does not die with what’s hot but instead what lives beyond him.

He intends to do this by meditating on his personal history and musical history. Taking note of what he likes, what has influenced him, and who has influenced him over the years, while also taking note of what he does not like, because, in his words, what we do not like also forms a part of what makes us who we are. With the Black Radio trilogy, Glasper meditates on the idea of tradition in jazz music. Observing that tradition in music, particularly jazz music, only survives when there is change. If change did not happen in jazz music, jazz would have died a long time ago. Mostly because music is supposed to reflect the times, and the times are constantly shifting and evolving. Although throughout the trilogy Glasper emphasises the importance of the paradigm shifting in jazz music, it is important to note that he still holds the idea of tradition in jazz music in high regard. Indicating that in relation to jazz music, it is important to honour tradition and to recognise our predecessors and how their efforts weave into the present. It is paramount that jazz musicians are never held back by it; otherwise, you cannot grow. Furthermore, upon meditating on his personal and musical history, Glasper uses his influences and experiences from living in Houston, then moving to New York. He recalls his time at the New School and his time at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as the paint brush and paint while using jazz music as the canvas to tell his story. 

The idea of musical honesty further bleeds into Glasper’s musical tapestry. This trilogy manages to fill in the missing hole of honesty in the music world today. Upon the release of the first Black Radio album, Glasper felt like a lot of honest music was not accessible (although there has and will always be good music). However, with the lack of artist development, fewer people are listening to full records, and recording companies are looking for quick success with every viral artist. The music is slowly losing its integrity. The intention behind this trilogy all through the years has been to be honest and to be himself. Glasper sets himself apart from others because he knows honesty in music will always make you different and that people can tell when the music is honest.

Moreover, Glasper noted in previous interviews that when he got signed to Blue Note Records, they did not give him a huge budget. This allowed him to have the creative freedom to do whatever he wanted on the records he made. Mainly because a lot of the time, record companies that provide artists with big budgets control upcoming artists and tell them what image or sound they should align with because that works in the mainstream. Glasper, being the genius that he is, collaborates with musical luminaries to help get his name out there. While still ensuring that these collaborations were organic because musical honesty is of the utmost importance. A lot of the songs written or covered on the records emerge from these jam sessions with artists who mainly compose R&B, hip-hop, and soul music. Therefore, an automatic weaving of genre-bending jazz music was bound to happen because, although the artists were featured on the records, they added their own individuality and flavour to the records. The trilogy would not be the trilogy without these artists.

Glasper further notes in previous interviews that his music is for this current generation. Touching upon the fact that notable figures in the history of jazz music such as John Coltrane, Charlie “Bird” Parker, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington all made music for their generation that spoke to the times they were living in. He mentions that it is important that he does the same for his generation and is a voice for this new age of jazz music, especially if we want to continue to see jazz music thrive.

Musical maestros like Robert Glasper and his Black Radio trilogy have paved the way for a new generation of musicians who are making music that merges the worlds of musical genres while ensuring that the music remains both current and soulful. Referring to the likes of The Internet and Hiatus Kayote while in conversation with Greg Thomas, Glasper declared that he believes his music has helped motivate artists to think outside the box of what they believe their music should sound like based on the genre they choose to work within. Glasper’s Black Radio trilogy has helped usher in a new generation of new-age jazz musicians who are able to salute the greats of the past but also choose to experiment within the genre in their own way to ensure that the music keeps moving. Robert Glasper’s Black Radio Trilogy is a call to musicians all over the world, especially jazz musicians, to never limit themselves to the confines of what they are “supposed to do” and instead choose to have an individual voice. It is a call for musicians to challenge themselves to be artists, not just musicians. This trilogy reimagines jazz in a way that encourages artists to tell the story of their lives in an honest way. And that, through that honesty, the music will survive long after they are gone.