Robert Glasper keyboards, Derrick
Hodge bass, Mark Colenburg drums, Casey
Benjamin vocoder and saxophone.
(Review
by Steve H.)
Having read a review of the London Hammersmith
Apollo gig where several renowned soul
singers (Laura Mvulva, Emelie Sande, Raheem DeVaughn) joined Mr Glasper on stage, I was nervous that this
gig was going to turn out to be more R&B than Jazz/Hip Hop. I need not
have worried, Sage Two provided a
wonderful arena for this powerful and exciting concert.
The versatile Benjamin excelled on both Saxophone
and vocoder, Hodge laid down some great bass grooves whilst drummer Colenburg
drove proceedings with brutal ferocious power. Overseeing them all was the
magnificent band leader Glasper who not only displayed a sense of humour
musically by playing little spoofs of well known popular numbers on the
keyboards but also laughed out loud and then said ‘that was the most honest thing I have ever
heard’ in response to an audience member shouting back ‘No’ to Glasper’s question about who had heard of
the album Double Booked which was the
album previous to Black Radio which
in turn is the album prior to his latest
album Black Radio 2. This late night gig was an unabated and
exhilarating joy from start to finish and the only downside was that it didn’t
go on all night.
Steve H.
1 comment :
Thanks Lance. I think this is one of the most engaging gigs I've ever been to! The musicianship that these guys displayed was amazing in both performance and composition. The four elements on stage totally clicked. Mark Colenberg surely worked the hardest(?!) - I've never seen grooves played so fast for such a long time! Some of the hi-lights for me were the covers of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' and Nivarna's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - brilliant harmonisations paired with that chilled hip-hop/ jazz fusion groove and with Casey Banjamin's smooth effected vocals.
I had only been a Robert Glasper 'YouTuber', but have now ordered his back catalogue of recordings! If the heavier hip-hop/ R&B fusion stuff isn't your thing, then check out his piano trio. A good place to start might be 'Double Booked' - it gives half a disc over to the Trio and the other half to the Experiment... best of both! (Michael Lamb)
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