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In some circles, the quest for a viable fusion of jazz and hip hop has been as frustrating and intense as the search for Higgs boson.

In theory, such a fusion should be possible. Both genres are improvisational and share a common root in African-American music. A huge number of rap hits have been built around samples from jazz albums, and jazz musicians have even recorded with rap groups (for instance, bassist Ron Carter with A Tribe Called Quest). But getting the two elements together isn't quite the same thing as joining them, and most attempts to date have resulted not in a genuine fusion but a sort of lumpy stew.

Black Radio should change all that. The fourth album by jazz pianist Robert Glasper, it succeeds both as jazz and as hip hop; there are deep grooves as well as deep thoughts, improvisational freedom threaded through a head-bobbing beat and pop-savvy vocals underpinned by lithe and adventurous jazz solos.

It is, in many ways, an album Glasper was born to make. At 33, the Houston-bred musician is known both as a serious jazz pianist and a serious hip-hop fan, someone whose c.v. includes sessions with both jazz composer Terrence Blanchard and rap producer J Dilla. The Experiment, as Glasper calls his current quartet, has a similar pedigree, as bassist Derrick Hodge has worked with Blanchard as well as the rapper Common, while Glasper's long-time drummer Chris Dave is also the thump behind Adele's 21.

Still, what makes Black Radio such a breakthrough isn't so much that it reflects Glasper's particular vision but that it plays off the communal effort of Glasper, his band and the vocalists. As with many hip-hop albums, the track listing is littered with the abbreviation "feat." followed by a rapper or singer's name, a cast including Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco and yasiin bey (the rapper formerly known as Mos Def).

These aren't just cameos, tacked on for marquee value. Just as a strong horn player can refocus the energies of a jazz rhythm section, so these vocalists share in shaping the album's sound. There's an urgency to bey's hectoring cadences that sharpens the rhythmic interplay of the title track, while Badu's languorous phrasing fuels the laid-back polyrhythms on the Mongo Santamaria chestnut Afro Blue.

There's nothing particularly showy about the playing, which on the surface can seem more interested in comfortable grooves than complicated interplay, but listen closely, and the album is full of surprises, from the depths the Experiment, along with Lalah Hathaway, pull from Sade's Cherish the Day, to the amount of soul Glasper finds in Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

But then, a major breakthrough is always deeper than it seems at first glance.

Black Radio

  • Robert Glasper Experiment
  • Blue Note

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