Jazz may be the essential home turf and primary genre identifier for Robert Glasper, but the keyboardist/leader/concept man has carved out his own vision and game plan for how he fits within that culture. When Glasper made his Santa Barbara debut at the Lobero Theatre last Saturday night, the 47-year-old Houston native and his nimble trio of bandmates laid out Glasper’s special vision and musical agenda over the course of a jammy, structurally loose but conceptually strong 90-minute set.
Glasper’s secret recipe/agenda has evolved over the years through his “black radio” concept, dating back to the acclaimed Black Radio album in 2012, up through 2023’s Black Radio III (the ostensible source of the current tour). The plan involves generous but non-traditional bolts of R&B and hip-hop grooves, elastic improv sections between taut structural fixtures, and ambient sonic nuggets.
Never mind the conventional jazz tradition of tunes played in predictable melody-solo-melody format; Glasper is more interested in creating a musical space and implied storyline on an album or in concert. His music is akin to the atmospheric goal behind what Spike Lee calls his films — “joints.”