Robert Glasper is a Houston based jazz pianist, composer, songwriter, and producer who has emerged as a crucial artist in contemporary music with his ability to seamlessly merge jazz, R&B, and hip-hop into a single, unitary, and natural voice (see his Black Radio series). He has a soft, low-key style on the piano that would have been quite at home in any hip night club in the '60s. He is also exceptional in his melodic, expansive improvisations that give some Keith Jarrett vibes with bits and pieces of Herbie Hancock also coming through. His main outlets are The Robert Glasper Trio, which tends to be more in the classical music genre, and The Robert Glasper Experiment, which gives him the experimental playground for his fusion work and explore hip-hop rhythms, R&B grooves, and also produce more political work in general. Outside of the jazz world, he is probably best known for his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar.
Robert Glasper Trio is Glasper's classsic jazz outfit with Vicente Archer (bass) and Damion Reid (drums).
Robert Glasper Experiment is where Glasper does his experimental, hip-hop fusion work with Mark Colenburg (drums), Casey Benjamin (saxophone, vocoder), and Derrick Hodge (bass).
He has worked with Bilal, Me'shell N'Degeocello, Yasiin Bey, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Erykah Badu, Georgia Anne Muldrow, as well as Kendrick Lamar (on To Pimp A Butterfly).