The Robert Glasper Experiment

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Robert Glasper's latest Blue Note effort, Double Booked, shows just how well the pianist straddles the jazz and hip-hop worlds. On the first half of the disc, Glasper flexes his jazz chops within the confines of an acoustic trio setting, cutting through four brilliant originals before diving into the angular Thelonious Monk tune "Think of One." The second half of the disc opens with a voice-mail message from Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, asking Glasper to bring the Experiment to a jam session hosted by his band. "I want y'all to do all that oraculous, spaced-out, past-geometry, near-calculus stuff y'all be doing," Thompson says. "Y'all do advanced trigonometry." As Glasper himself puts it, the Experiment is like his version of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters with hip-hop and alternative-rock influences. (For a full Q&A with Glasper, visit the Backbeat blog.)