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5 Ways to Play Like Robert Glasper

BY BRIAN CHARETTE
May 19, 2016
Hailing from Houston, Texas, jazz pianist and composer Robert Glasper burst onto the music scene in 2005 and was quickly signed to Blue Note Records. His Robert Glasper Experiment albums
Black Radio and Black Radio 2 albumsmarrying jazz, hip-hop and groove-oriented musicboth won Grammy Awards. His latest Robert Glasper Trio album, Covered, delivers acoustic versions
of some of his favorite songs. And his latest, Everythings Beautiful, re-imagines some Miles Davis tracks. Lets delve into Glaspers unique style.
1. Pedal Points
Ex. 1 is influenced by Glaspers work on the Joni Mitchell
song Barangrill. In the intro, Glasper plays tender melodies
over a pedal point that goes from major to minor tonalities. In
this example and over an F pedal in the bass, we have a root
position Eb major seventh chord in the left hand. This creates
a tidy F7sus4 voicing when played against the pedal note.
The tonality changes to an F minor seventh chord in root
position in bars 3 and 4. In the right hand, we see notes from
the corresponding scales; over the F7sus4 we use a few
notes from the F Mixolydian mode (F, G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F).
In Bars 3 and 4 we use notes from the F Dorian mode (F, G,
Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, F).
2. Ostinatos & Descending Bass
In Ex. 2, we see a right-hand ostinato that repeats over a
descending bass line, another technique often used by
Glasper. Notice that all of the notes in the right hand come
from the D Dorian mode (D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D). Under this
line full of syncopated 16th-note subdivisions, a simple
whole-note bass line descends. In the last bar, the bass note
moves to a note outside of the mode, Bb. The notes against
this bass create a Bb major 13 arpeggio.
3. Moving Triads
Ex. 3 illustrates Glaspers use of syncopated chords also
moving over a descending bass line. Here we are in the
tonality of G minor, with a bass line that moves down the G
Dorian mode (G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G) until it goes to a
flatted sixth (Eb) and arrives at the fifth (D). Note that, while
bar 1 begins with a G minor triad in the right hand, the rest
of the right hand chords are all suspended triads such as
bar 2s Dsus, bar 3s C9 and bar 4s Cmin9.
4. The Sound of Seconds
In Ex. 4, we investigate voicings built with the crunchy
interval of a second. In the first two bars, the lowest two
notes of the right hand are made up of second intervals,
which create a pleasing crunch that the remaining thirds sit
atop to form nicely balanced jazz voicings. Bar 3 has a stock
Amin9 voicing with the addition of the note D for a minor
11th sound. This sound imparted by the second interval
adds spice to what might be considered an old-fashioned
jazz chord. The last bar has the second near the top of the
voicing.
5. Eighth Notes and Minor Ninths
Ex. 5 pairs eighth-note lines with descending minor ninth chords, inspired by Glaspers solo on the venerable jazz standard Stella by Starlight. Note that in the left hand, we are using minor ninth voicings that
descend by half steps. The right hand lines are taken right from the respective Dorian mode with the exception of a few chromatic notes.
Practice Tip
Try transposing these exercises through all 12 keys and notice how your jazz vocabulary skyrockets, says keyboardist and composer Brian Charette, who has performed and recorded with artists including Joni
Mitchell, Michael Bubl, and Rufus Wainwright, in addition to leading his own jazz groups. Charette won Downbeat magazines Rising Star Organ award in 2014 and recently released the album Alphabet City.
He also has a new book out entitled 101 Hammond B-3 Tips: Stuff All the Pros Know and Use. Find out more at briancharette.com

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