Thirty two year old Robert Glasper is an extraordinary pianist who has won equal acceptance in the jazz and hip hop fields. Musicians who excel in more than one genre often run parallel careers but Glasper views his output as a single entity and combines both approaches on this his, fourth CD and his third for Blue Note. His 2003 début “Mood” (Fresh Sound New Talent) was followed by “Canvas” (2005) and “In My Element” (2007).
The first half of “Double Booked” features Glasper’s piano trio which teams him with bassist Vincente Archer and drummer Chris “Daddy” Dave. The second half is given over to Glasper’s hip hop outfit The Experiment. Glasper and Dave are common to both units, the drummer having started out with The Experiment before also being incorporated into the more jazz oriented trio. Completing the line up of the Experiment are Casey Benjamin on saxophones and vocoder and electric bassist Derrick Hodge. There are guest slots from the extraordinary vocalist Bilal, hip hop star Mos Def and DJ Jahi Sundance, the son of alto saxophonist Oliver Lake.
The album title take it’s premise from the notion of both units being booked to play on the same night. Entertaining “voicemail” messages from Terence Blanchard and hip hop drummer Questlove   introduce each half of the album and add an element of fun to the proceedings.

The trio half of the album kicks off with “No Worries” an expression Glasper picked up on during a visit to London last year. Immediately it’s apparent that Glasper is a pianist of extraordinary abilities and that there is a real chemistry between him and his fellow musicians. Glasper combines the drive of his hero Herbie Hancock with the lyricism of Keith Jarrett and has clearly absorbed every aspect of contemporary jazz piano. The free-wheeling opening track features some thrilling interplay between the three musicians as it gathers pace, Archer and Dave are brilliant technicians too and one can’t fail to be impressed.
“Yes I’m Country (And That’s OK)” references Glasper’s upbringing in Houston, Texas before his move to New York. It’s catchy, country tinged melody recalls early Jarrett (“the Windup” say) but Glasper has plenty to say on his own account in another dazzling performance. 

Dave’s judicious use of hip hop grooves adds something different to the music such as on the otherwise reflective 7/4 “Downtime”. Again this has a strong, memorable melody that reveals Glasper’s love of popular song by artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. These may hardly be the most fashionable names to drop but Glasper doesn’t care a bit. They may play different instruments but Glasper’s innate tunefulness and love of melody reminds me of Pat Metheny as much as Jarrett or Hancock. Bassist Archer who holds the group together and is a quietly effective foil for the musically extrovert characters of Glasper and Dave is given some brief solo space here. 

“59 South” continues in the same melodic vein and is another reference to the city of Houston. Not that “melodic” should be construed in any way as meaning bland or “easy listening”. There is far too much musical inventiveness going on for that and the interaction between the members of the trio is frequently breathtaking. Improvisation doesn’t have to be “difficult” as these three superb musicians show. Dave is particularly impressive with his drums almost taking the lead in the closing stages of the piece. 
The “Trio” section of the album closes with Glasper’s interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One”. Monk’s typically quirky melody is subtly updated for the 21st Century and features a springy solo from Archer’s double bass. Glasper emphasises the lineage between jazz and hip hop by quoting Ahmad Jamal’s “Swahililand” in the closing stages of the piece. The chord sequence for this tune formed the basis for the 1996 De La Soul hit “Stakes Is High” written by the late J.Dilla, one of Glasper’s musical heroes. The trio are still playing this in the background as Questlove leaves his voicemail message once again emphasising the links between Glasper’s two musical worlds.
Questlove’s message leads into the brief “4eva”, a brief snippet of a live performance by the Experiment featuring a guest appearance by hip hop star “Mos Def”. It’s too short and fragmented to be anything but ultimately superfluous in comparison to the more substantial fare to come.
“Butterfly” is a re-working of a Herbie Hancock fusion piece from the 1974 album “Thrust”. Glasper is a massive Hancock fan and has re-worked his pieces before. This updating of the Headhunters tradition features Casey Benjamin on vocoder, a once derided device that seems to be making something of a comeback- frankly I could do just as well without it but it is of intermittent interest here. Glasper’s feverish Rhodes solo is more up my street and the sampling of J.Dilla’s “Fuck The Police” is another unusual touch. All in all this is an intriguing update but for me it lacks the appeal of Glasper’s magnificent piano trio work.

At a little over ten minutes “Festival” is the centrepiece of the “Experiment”  half of the album. This is the perfect synthesis of Glasper’s approaches, mixing acoustic and electric instruments and juxtaposing jazz improvising with programmed beats. Glasper plays both piano and Rhodes and Benjamin solos passionately on squiggling alto sax, also adding layers of effects. This piece is likely to hold a greater appeal to the jazz audience and to me sounds like a vigorous updating of the first edition of Return To Forever. I could quite happily listen to this on a regular basis.
“For You” is a brief song based interlude written by Benjamin and drummer Sameer Gupta and featuring Benjamin’s vocoder alongside Glasper’s Rhodes. The Experiment is arguably a more democratic outfit than the trio but compared to what has just proceeded it this piece is lightweight and inconsequential.
The final tracks features the extraordinary voice of regular Glasper collaborator Bilal, recently heard to such good effect on the Babel release “Now’s The Time II” a collection compiled by Kevin Le Gendre and reviewed elsewhere on this site. There Glasper and Bilal radically re-interpreted Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”. Here The Experiment tackle Bilal’s song “All Matter” an effective piece of writing that features the extraordinary range of Bilal’s voice. It’s a strong composition and highly effective. I was very impressed by this.

The closing “Open Mind”  is by electric bassist Derrick Hodge who forms a grooving rhythm section with drummer Dave throughout the second half of the album. This is another intriguing mix of electric and acoustic instruments and although the piece is less memorable than “Festival” or “All Matter” there is still much to enjoy. Bilal is less prominent here, his vocals wordless and Jahi Sundance adds turntables and scratching plus presumably the sampled spoken word voices. Glasper’s acoustic piano is a nice contrast to this and Dave’s dynamic drumming certainly grabs the attention. This melange of grooves and atmospherics is ultimately a fascinating listen and a good way to close this extraordinary album.
The piano trio pieces are brilliant-melodic and vibrant and played with enormous technical skill. They represent some of the best music I’ve heard in this format and weighing in at thirty five minutes plus are as long as some vinyl albums used to be. If like me you are primarily approaching Glasper from a jazz perspective then view this as a very good album with the Experiment material as bonus tracks. But even here “Festival” All Matter” and to a lesser extent “Open Mind” are extremely good. The dominance of the vocoder puts me off “Butterfly” and the other two very brief pieces are little more than filler. That makes 75% of this record good to excellent. Approach with an “Open Mind” and you’ve got a damn fine album.
It will be interesting to see how Glasper continues to merge all the facets of his musical personality. The guy’s a major talent, that’s for sure.

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