Ten years after making his Blue Note debut—and following two GRAMMY-winning volumes of his critically and commercially successful R&B-oriented Black Radio albums—Glasper has returned to his acclaimed acoustic jazz trio on Covered. Glasper, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid—who form the original trio featured on Glasper’s first two Blue Note albums: Canvas (2005) and In My Element (2007)—reconvened at the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California in December to record the album in front of an intimate live audience. The set list features songs by hip-hop and R&B stars like Kendrick Lamar, Jhené Aiko, John Legend, Musiq Soulchild, and Bilal alongside the jazz standard “Stella By Starlight.” Displaying his trademark eclecticism, Glasper also includes tunes by Radiohead and Joni Mitchell, along with a stirring collaboration with legendary singer/activist Harry Belafonte. The Glasper originals on the album include a re-working of “I Don’t Even Care,” a bonus track from Black Radio 2 that featured Macy Gray and Jean Grae.
Glasper’s 2009 album Double Booked, which featured both his Trio and Experiment band and earned Glasper his first GRAMMY nomination, has also been reissued on vinyl for the first time as one of the 100 essential Blue Note titles in the label’s on-going 75th Anniversary Vinyl Reissue Series. Glasper has also received wide recognition for his prominent role on rapper Kendrick Lamar’s much-discussed new album To Pimp A Butterfly.
