Black Radio

Black Radio
Studio album by Robert Glasper
Released	February 28, 2012
Genre	Jazz, hip hop, R&B, soul
Length	65:18
Label	Blue Note Records
Producer	Robert Glasper
Robert Glasper chronology
Double-Booked (2009) Black Radio (2012) Black Radio 2 (2013)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Black Radio is the fifth studio album by American jazz pianist/hip hop producer Robert Glasper, released February 28, 2012 by Blue Note Records. The album won Best R&B Album at the 55th Grammy Awards as well as receiving a nomination for Best R&B Performance from the album cut "Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)" featuring R&B singer Ledisi, in February 2013.

Background

After making two acoustic trio albums for the vaunted label, the pianist/keyboardist introduced his Experiment band on the second half of 2009’s Double Booked. On Black Radio, Experiment saxophonist/flautist/vocoder player Casey Benjamin, bass guitarist Derrick Hodge, and drummer/percussionist Chris Dave are back, as are guest vocalists Bilal and Mos Def (now going by Yasiin Bey). They’re joined by a slew of similarly open-eared, jazz-informed contributors, from Erykah Badu (on a buoyant version of the Mongo Santamaria standard “Afro Blue”) to Meshell Ndegeocello and Lupe Fiasco. Lalah Hathaway can be heard on the two most recognizable covers—handling lead vocals on Sade’s “Cherish the Day” and trading dreamy, wordless crooning with Benjamin’s vocoder-aided vocals on an extended outro to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Here's the dictionary's definition: "the device in an aircraft that records technical data during a flight, used in case of accident to discover its cause." And there's Angelika Beener's in her liner essay. She defines Black Radio as "representative of the veracity of Black music" which has been "...emulated, envied and countlessly re-imagined by the rest of the world...." With jazz as its backbone, Glasper, drummer Chris Dave, bassist Derrick Hodge, and Casey Benjamin on reeds, winds, and vocoder, cued by the inspiration of black music's illustrious cultural past, try to carve out a creative place for its future. The album is a seamless, deeply focused meld of jazz, hip-hop, adult contemporary R&B, neo-soul, even rock, with an expansive use of rhythmic and melodic invention; all of it surrounded by spacious, natural-sounding production that's smooth, never slick. The various elements yield the desired result: making the whole greater than its parts. Sa-Ra's Shafiq Husayn introduces it with "Lift Off." Erykah Badu takes the Cuban jazz classic "Afro Blue" and extends it using hip-hop rhythms and neo-soul groove wedded to her signature, jazz-tinged croon. Benjamin's airy flute and Glasper's Rhodes and piano converge in the center; Hodge's bass adds slip for the drum kit. Lalah Hathaway's gorgeous vocal on Sade's "Cherish the Day" finds the rhythm section bumping around the fringes and creating a new pocket, which she embraces while finding spaces inside the song that weren't there before. On "Always Shine," Lupe Fiasco's flow meets Bilal's emotive modern soul. The band stretches conventional 4/4 time, and the piano and synth shapeshift through the melody, adding depth and musical drama. "Gonna Be Alright" is a re-imagining of Glasper's "F.T.B." with new lyrics and a rousing, elegant vocal by Ledisi. King dreamily croons through "Move Love," as the Experiment pushes the time accents to a near breaking point. "Ah Yeah," with Musiq (Soulchild) and Chrisette Michele, is a sensual babymaker that expands the reach of contemporary jazz. The subtle yet fragmented breaks in "The Consequences of Jealousy," combined with Glasper's right-handed, upper-register chord creations, give Me'Shell Ndégeocello's vocal room to step outside the frame to fully inhabit the brooding musical simmer as an improviser. On "Why Do We Try," Stokley's (Mint Condition) breezy vocal is the bridge between Glasper's counterpoint melodies (one on each hand, with plenty of block chord improvisation), and the organ-esque timbres, popping breakbeats, and rumbling bass harmonics. The title track, with Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) commences with hip-hop in the tune's head; the rhythm section charges full press to meet his rapid-fire delivery, but Glasper and Benjamin offer gentler modal grooves on the margins without blunting the impact. Bilal uses his elastic phrasing to offer an iconic reading of David Bowie's "Letter to Hermione," as the band follows and builds upon his twists and turns. A drum machine and slurred speaking voice introduce Glasper's modally strident reading of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to close. As Benjamin sings through his vocoder, loops, blips, and sample fragments haunt the middle like ghosts. Glasper approaches the melody elliptically; but grounds the entire tune, even as the rhythm section and effects gather steam. Before long, everything converges to propel it into the stratosphere. Black Radio creates an entirely new context for popular music in its near erasure of boundaries. It is the sound of the future -- even if no one knows it yet.^[2]

Track listing

Notes

• "Afro Blue" cover as performed by Mongo Santamaria.
• "Cherish the Day" cover as performed by Sade.
• "Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)" additional vocals of "F.T.B." from album In My Element as performed by Robert Glasper.
• "Letter to Hermione" cover as performed by David Bowie.
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" cover as performed by Nirvana.
• "A Love Supreme" cover as performed by John Coltrane.
• "Twice" cover as performed by Little Dragon.

Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP

Personnel

The Robert Glasper Experiment

• Robert Glasper — Piano, Fender Rhodes (Exc. tracks 10, 11), synthesizer (Track 10), arrangements (Tracks 2, 11, 12)
• Casey Benjamin — Vocoder (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 12), flute (Tracks 2, 11), saxophone (Tracks 3, 6, 9, 10), synthesizer (Tracks 3–5, 12), arrangement (Track 8)
• Derrick Hodge — Bass
• Chris Dave — Drums, percussion
• Jahi Sundance — Turntables (Tracks 1, 8, 10, 12)
• Stokley Williams — Percussion (Track 9)

Featured Artists

• Shafiq Husayn — Vocals (Track 1)
• Erykah Badu — Vocals (Track 2, Remix EP track 1)
• Lalah Hathaway — Vocals (Track 3, 12)
• Bilal — Vocals (Track 4, 11, Remix EP track 5)
• Lupe Fiasco — Vocals (Track 4)
• Ledisi — Vocals (Track 5)
• KING (Track 6)
  • Anita Bias — Vocals
  • Amber Strother — Vocals
  • Paris Strother — Keyboards
• Chrisette Michele — Vocals (Track 7)
• Musiq Soulchild — Vocals, snapping (Track 7)
• MeShell Ndegeocello — Vocals (Track 8, Remix EP track 3)
• Stokley Williams — Vocals (Track 9), percussion (Tracks 9, 12)
• Yasiin Bey — Vocals (Track 10, Remix EP track 2)
• Hindi Zahra — Vocals (European bonus tracks)
• Phonte — Vocals (Remix EP track 1)
• Solange Knowles — Vocals (Remix EP track 4)
• The Roots — (Remix EP track 4)
• Black Milk — Vocals (Remix EP track 5)
• 9th Wonder — Remixing (Remix EP track 1)
• Pete Rock — Remixing (Remix EP track 2)
• Georgia Anne Muldrow — Remixing (Remix EP track 3)
• ?uestlove — Remixing (Remix EP track 4)
• DJ Jewels Baby — Remixing (Remix EP track 5)

Production

• Recorded at Treshhold, Los Angeles, CA, by Keith Lewis, assisted by Todd Bergman.
• Vocals and piano for "Afro Blue" recorded by Max Ross at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY.
• Mixed by Qmillion at Flying Dread STudios, Venice, CA.
• Mastering by Chris Athens at Sterling Sound, New York, NY.
• Produced by Robert Glasper, except track 7 co-produced by Bryan-Michael Cox
• Nicole Hegeman — Executive producer, production coordination, management
• Eli Wolf — Executive producer, A&R
• Vincent Bennett — Management
• Gordon H. Jee — Art direction
• Giuliyani — Original artwork on cover
• Michael Schreiber — Photography
• Jewell Green — Photography
• Cognito — Photography
• Angelika Beener — Liner notes

Charts

References