Thanks again Mike Kaplin for an other great recommendation. Perhaps not quite as "star-aligned," but still great!
Robert Glasper's album Doubt Booked is a split album with 5 acoustic piano jazz trio tracks and 5 fusion jazz tracks which plays with vocals, funky effects, and sax. The trio portion could remind you of a lot of other contemporary jazz artists such as Brad Mehldau, but it's a little more funky, and the changes and melodies aren't quite as intense. The drummer is probably the stand-out performer on the trio half of the album for sure, and is definitely a force throughout. Your traditionalist high school drum teacher would probably say he over-plays every song, but I think it is what brings this trio a few step beyond. The song "Yes I'm Country and That's Okay," is probably my favorite track and showcases the drummer in this way. The melody is polite and simple, and the drummer plays the hell out of it and turns it into a whole other walking, growing, moving machine.
Robert's playing is tight. I enjoy his melodies more than his improv, through. He tends to stick to keeping his left hand comping and his right hand soloing, and this keeps his riffs close within the feel and structure of the tune. I could go for some more exploration.
The second half of the album answers to that, though. It is much more experimental. The jazz trio backbone is still strong, but there are funky things like auto-tuned vocals, and a sax stuffed through a serious flanger, and wilder improv. In fact, sometimes there isn't a melody at all. However, there only seems to be one truly complete thought on this side of the album, and that would be the song "All Matter," which I think may be one of the weakest tracks on the album.
I think the concept of having two distinct styles of Glasper on one album is cool, but I think it falls short here because the two sides don't seem complete in themselves, nor do they really complete each other. No doubt this guy is one hell of a player and a pleasure to listen to.
I sent out a massive thread to my friends asking them for their top two, must listen to albums. I have 80 days left at my job, and it takes about 50 minutes door to door each way. So I figured that is enough time to listen to one album twice through each day. Thus became the 80 albums in 80 days project. This is my blog describing my experiences with each album.
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