Five-time Grammy-winner Robert Glasper brings his groundbreaking meld of jazz, hip-hop, R&B and neo-soul to Sydney’s City Recital Hall this August.

Within the diaspora of black culture, Glasper seeks to connect all the divergent threads of styles, genres, and scenes into one cohesive sound within a jazz framework.

Hailing from Houston, Texas, Glasper was Inspired to play piano by his mother, a gospel pianist and vocalist, and  attended Houston’s High School for the Performing Arts. After graduation, he studied music at the New School University in Manhattan, where he found performance work with such luminaries as bassist Christian McBride, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and others. After graduating college, Glasper worked with a variety of artists, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, vocalist Carly Simon, and rapper Mos Def. 

In 2009, Glasper released the forward-thinking album Double Booked, which featured a mix of modal post-bop and funky, ’80s Herbie Hancock-inspired numbers with two separate bands. Three years later, the Robert Glasper Experiment (with a slew of guest vocalists) issued their first stand-alone album, Black Radio, for Blue Note, which sought to blur the boundaries between jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock & roll. It entered the jazz chart at number one and went on to win a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

The following year, the Robert Glasper Experiment returned with their equally star-studded sophomore album, Black Radio 2. It also won a Grammy, this time for Best Traditional R&B Performance for a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America.”

Black Radio III, unlike the first two volumes, both of which were recorded in a week, was put together over a year in remote fashion. It arrived in February 2022 with Lalah Hathaway, Q-Tip, Mac Miller and Jennifer Hudson among the additional participants. No stranger to collaboration, Glasper also played on Kendrick Lamar’s celebrated To Pimp a Butterfly and Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night.

Singular Voices.

Bold songwriters. Sublime Acoustics. One night only.