A day in the Life of JARON: 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.