Robert Glasper And Little Brother Blend Jazz And “Rap After 40” To Perfection At Blue Note

When I first interviewed pianist Robert Glasper in 2016, I asked him if he thought the jazz presence on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly (which Glasper played on) would generate longstanding interest in the genre. “If people capitalize on it and do cool sh*t,” he matter-of-factly responded. “Jazz musicians need to start doing cool shit.” Glasper has definitely followed his own advice: with his ambidextrous musicianship between modern jazz, R&B, and Hip-Hop as both a bandleader and as player-for-hire, he’s racked up five Grammy awards, 11 nominations, and a reputation as one of the best musicians in the business. He already stays busy as a live performer and recording artist, but 2024 has been a prolific year even by his standards. He’s released three albums exclusively with Apple Music this year, launched a new radio show on the streaming service called In My Element Radio, and he’s continuing his hot ticket residency in New York City.

Now in its sixth year, Robtober is Robert Glasper’s annual residency at Blue Note, a storied jazz club in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Glasper has collaborated with acts like Common, H.E.R., Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Yasiin Bey, Lalah Hathaway, and Anderson .Paak. This year, he brings that same diverse star power to his Blue Note residency with guests including Questlove and Marsha Ambrosius. He scheduled four shows with Little Brother over two nights, and each of the performances was sold out. Glasper uses these shows to showcase the catalog of his collaborators and add a live, band-centric flair to the jams that everyone already loves. 

Playing to audience members packed shoulder to shoulder at tables and the bar, Glasper took the stage with his band — a guitarist, a bass player, a drummer, and a DJ — and played about 40 minutes of music, starting with an ode to J Dilla’s “Ice” and continuing through several movements from the Robert Glasper Experiment’s discography. The band played a medley of midtempo, downbeat, and atmospheric arrangements, with Glasper providing sparse, complimentary vocals and jokingly claiming credit whenever one of the musicians would turn in an impressive solo performance. In one of the more impressive moments from the set, DJ Jahi Sundance spun vocal samples from Erykah Badu and Thundercat as the band expertly weaved around them. 

After Robert Glasper Experiment got the show started, rap duo Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh made their way to the stage, teaming with the band to traverse through a collection of fan favorites. They launched the performance with “The Feel,” the triumphant intro of their latest studio album, May The Lord Watch, and went back as far as songs from their timeless 2003 debut The Listening, and included songs like the mixtape cut “War” for good measure. Their verses were crisp, with each MC faithfully nailing each of the lyrics they wrote, whether they were released decades ago or, in the case of new songs like “Wish Me Well” and “Glory Glory,” a few months ago. Much of Little Brother’s songs are crafted by the use of samples, but Glasper’s band added a lush, sultry expansiveness to their catalog. “This is the sexiest we’ve ever did this song,” Phonte cracked after Pooh kept him on his toes with a surprise delivery of his verse of “Nic’s Groove” from The Foreign Exchange, Te’s first album with producer Nicolay that turned 20 this year. “It had to be sexy,” Pooh responded, pointing to his shirt. “I got my salmon on.”

That’s another thing: while Little Brother can rap their a**es off, they have just as much of a reputation for their comedic timing. Whether it’s their lyrics, their adlibs, or their skits, they’ve always had an element of cheeky, conversational humor that endears them to fans. This residency show was full of that humor: Phonte and Pooh filled space between songs to riff with the crowd about Curve cologne, Donnie Simpson’s Video Soul, and using a seductive falsetto to have a casual conversation with your partner around the house. The show also had an ongoing conversation about the idea of “rap after 40.” “My numbers are down,” Phonte said, laughing at the audience’s approving applause. “I ain’t tell you what the numbers even was.” 

But as much as age was brought up to irreverently refer to being washed, the duo was also cognizant of the fact that they’re more than 20 years into their careers and still able to draw a crowd that’s excited to see them. It’s both a blessing to musical longevity, and to decent health, which isn’t a given: Hip-Hop often loses members of its community in their 50s or younger, with cancer claiming the life of revered DJ Clark Kent last week. “Most rappers don’t make it to this stage,” Phonte said with gratitude. “It’s a very unforgiving business, it’s cruel. We’ve been so blessed to be surrounded by community, and to have people like the brothers on this stage who see the value of what we do.” Robert Glasper has been providing that sort of community on stage for six years and counting, and it’ll likely be a can’t-miss show as long as he keeps it going.