The Atlanta Jazz Festival and Featured Artist: Robert Glasper Experiment

Aside from taking time to reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day, my Memorial Day weekend was rather eventful. I attended the 35th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival in Piedmont Park and had the pleasure of hearing featured artist, the Robert Glasper Experiment.

Noted as one of the country’s largest free music festivals, the Atlanta Jazz Festival is a three-day event spanned over the Memorial Day weekend that features established and up-and-coming jazz musicians. Musical acts that graced the stage included flutist, Dwight Andrews, Tito Puente Jr. and Orchestra, and Kathleen Bertrand.

The standout performance of the night was the Robert Glasper Experiment. With a musical sound infused with jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and rock, the Robert Glasper Experiment did not disappoint. During the four man group’s performance, they covered popular songs “Cherish the Day” by Sade’, Musiq Soulchild’s “Don’t Change”, and Floetry’s “Say Yes” before performing singles from their latest project, Black 
Radio.

Jazz pianist, Robert Glasper has worked with some of the best in the world of R&B and hip-hop. He has worked with Jay-Z, Erykah Badu, and Bilal and yasiin bey (Mos Def), as musical director. He was also featured on Kanye West’s Late Registration, Q-Tip’s The Renaissance, and in 2009, toured exclusively on Maxwell’s BLACKsummers’night tour.

With four albums under his belt, Robert Glasper released the first full-length album with his Experiment band in February. The album, entitled, Black Radio, was named and inspired by an aircraft’s black box—it holds the truth and is indestructible. The cover of Sade’s “Cherish the Day” featuring Lalah Hathaway leave listeners wanting more from the sultry-voiced songstress and tracks featuring Me’Shell Ndegeocello and Ledisi exhibits how well the Experiment meshes R&B and jazz together. If you are looking for an album to satisfy both R&B and jazz needs, Black Radio is a mélange of jazz and R&B sure to satisfy the music lover’s palate.