The Music of Robert Glasper: Canvas

Robert Glasper, as I've mentioned previously, is an artist I encountered while searching for an instrumental version of a Common + Slum Village collaboration known as "Thelonius". Robert Glasper has a rich tradition of blending Hip Hop sensibilities with his jazz music; on this occasion, he was paying homage to the Jay Dilla beat (which was originally sampled from George Duke's "Vulcan Mind Probe"), and he usually includes this tune (along with other Jay Dee staples like "Doo Doo", "Stakes is High" and "The Light"...and one time even threw in "Yum Yum") on a set he does called "The Dillalude".  This was basically a springboard to discover more of his work, some of which is straight ahead jazz, and occasionally he gets "experimental" with his Robert Glasper Experiment group.

In the course of searching for another rendition of the Dillalude, I came across a live recording of the Robert Glasper Trio from February 11th 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. On that day his accompanying personnel were Alan Hampton (on Bass) and Mark Colenburg (on Drums). To cut a long story short, this version of the Dillalude (disappointingly) only consisted of "Doo Doo" and "Stakes is High", thus I decided to peruse through the other tracks, and there it was practically at the beginning of the performance: right after introducing his trio members and apologizing for previous no-shows, he presented "Canvas"

Now, Canvas was originally released in October 2005, and at the time he was basically fronting a quartet: Mark Turner (Tenor Sax), Vicinte Archer (Bass) and Damion Reid (Drums). Clocking in at 9:57, it is a beautifully sombre piece. Robert Glasper starts it off with a 3 note phrase (varied), which is answered by a variable length phrase initially from Mr. Glasper himself for a few measures, and then eventually the rest of the quartet joins in, echoing Glasper, and eventually plays the chorus to the piece. They cycle through this for some time, and then after a Glasper solo, followed by a Mark Turner solo, they bring it to a close by going in hard on the chorus.


This live rendition is a slightly different cup of tea; coinciding with the date of Whitney Houston's death, it ended up being dedicated to her memory. I don't know if this may have influenced Glasper to play a lengthy solo before getting into Canvas-proper, but it certainly made the music more memorable. He proceeds to play a ballad clocking in at 6:50 that is profoundly nuanced (possibly fully improvised). When I listen to it, I feel like it consists of 2 distinct portions: the first portion is more subdued, with quiet employed between the run of notes to place a delicate sort of emphasis, a yearning; this changes about the 3:20 mark whereby the mood in the music shifts. The tone picks up, and the stretches of punctuated silences are reduced, and he imbues the notes with more of a warmth; he then segues into that prototypical 3 note phrase of "Canvas".

Truth be told, there's something more intimate and magical about the trio rendition versus the original quartet rendition. I attribute this mostly to the saxophone that was particularly jarring in its solo portion. Don't get me wrong, the sax adds some nice layering in unison with the other instruments, but in this song it just makes the song seem more technical, but less musically enriching. In contrast, the trio's live rendition starts off with a very tasteful Bass solo, followed by a more grounded Piano solo which constitutes the vast majority of the song. Glasper plays it close to the heart. The drums are present as a muted element in the background, adding subtle shades of accompaniment. Come to think of it, this is yet another welcome change from the original version whereby the drums were something of an obtrusive element. Here, the drums flourishes are only really highlighted in the drum solo that precedes the song's ending as all three trio members finally let loose.    

By the end of it all, you'd have listened to a wonderful 21:54 gem that explores a huge range of emotions. Thus far, I've heard 3 versions of this song: the original, the Trio version, and the 2014 North Sea Jazz Festival version (backed by the Metropole Orchestra), and the trio version is my standout favourite. Sometimes the most laid back, grounded, simple version is just the best. In my opinion, this truly is the definitive version of Canvas.

May this song also breathe some light into your life.

 

Trio Version (21:54)

  

Quartet Version (10:00)

God Bless

**P.S: Unfortunately, the Metropole Orchestra version can no longer be found online

Glass: "Spoiler-Free" Review

Just got done watching the latest addition to the surprise Unbreakable-Trilogy. "Split" was a fascinating movie that clearly is an excellent standalone story; however, finding out that it actually shared a universe with "Unbreakable" opened up a whole bunch of possibilities, not least of which was the chance to delve into the superhero lore entailed in the fairly grounded world of Unbreakable.

The movie immediately thrusts us into the thick of things. David Dunn (Bruce Willis) continues his vigilante ways, now currently known as "The Overseer". His son, Joseph (reprised by Spencer Treat Clark), aids him in this effort as his "guy in the chair" to provide him with relevant info. They currently have their eyes set on Kevin Wendell Crumb aka "The Horde" (James  McAvoy). Since he let his beast persona run rampant, he has carved a trail of destruction throughout the city, and, as per his modus operandi, has kidnapped yet another set of individuals. The stage is set for these two individuals to meet and sparks do fly when they meet. Having never faced an equal, their initial encounter is humbling for the both of them. Suffice it to say, sometime after this encounter they end up confined to an asylum under the watch of Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson); the aforementioned asylum also coincidentally happens to house our favourite antagonist Elijah Price aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), conscious, but thoroughly sedated and kept under wraps. On cue, the appearance of the two super-powered individuals reinvigorates him and reignites his joie de vivre.

This movie is a fulfilling slow-burn, similar to both Unbreakable and Split; however, unlike its two predecessors, it runs at a faster pace. Unbreakable gave us a more grounded universe, and did not have much in terms of action scenes; this movie gives us a few more action scenes, but even better than that is an underlying intensity and sense of urgency that kept me enthralled through the whole movie. The acting chops of the 3 leads in their Protagonist, Antagonist and Deuteragonist roles is impressive; this movie sequentially follows their 3 arcs and makes extensive use of flashbacks to carefully knit this universe in some unsuspected ways. James McAvoy is a joy to watch. Seeing him dissolve into the various personalities is a thing of beauty. Even after all this time, I distinctly remembered the proper and domineering "Patricia", the OCD and ever serious "Dennis" and innocent "Hedwig". Impressively, we get to see more personalities exhibited this time around, if only for small fleeting moments. Undoubtedly, McAvoy receives more of the spotlight so that he can shine.

Samuel L. Jackson is ever the thunderous voiced villain. Some of his portrayal of Mr. Glass is merely physical, but even then you still get the impression that there's a lot bubbling under the surface - planning, scheming, mischief. Though he's up to no good, he's the kind of villain that you find yourself empathizing with.

Bruce Willis is subdued in his representation of the reluctant hero. The only sad thing is that his character supposedly disappears for an extensive portion of the second act (which is a tragedy). His David Dunn, far from being the kind of hero upon whom people heap praise, is held in deep suspicion and the police basically make him a marked man. Despite this, he continues to risk life and limb to do what only he can do to keep people safe.

The supporting cast is also great, adding more layers to the story; the movie also benefits from a great script and beautiful cinematography. I think most people will be fine with this movie, until it gets to its final act. Just when everything promises to propel us into a fiery climax, Mr. Shyamalan decides to take us on a different tangent. A lot of people who have reviewed this movie were turned off by this turn of events. This director is famous for his use of plot-twists in his earlier movies, so it isn't something unexpected from him; the direction he chooses is really anticlimactic. I can understand that this movie threatened to join the mould of other big blockbuster superhero movies in the manner in which it plays out, so Shyamalan chose to ground it further to fit in with his vision. It unfortunately unfurls a thread that leaves a big unanswered question at the movie's end. From a movie franchise standpoint, it means that he could pelt us with another sequel at any time if he so chooses; however, it feels like an injustice to the groundwork that was beautifully laid out in both Unbreakable and Split. A good analogy would be for us to be given "Avengers: Infinity War" without the prospect of an "Avengers: Endgame". It just can't end this way.

The ending is truly conflicting; this seems like too beautiful a movie for it to come down to this. As such, I will be splitting my rating for this movie:

1. the stellar work of everything that went into the mix: A
2. the ending: B-

However, even the ending should not detract you from experiencing this tour-de-force. Loving hands have crafted it; they may have wavered along the way, but the execution is wonderful.


God Bless