Live Review: Robert Glasper @ City Recital Hall, Sydney

“Sydney, what is it?” And with that, the five-time Grammy-winning, Emmy-winning pianist-producer and master collaborator was back. Cleaning the cobwebs off his absence down under, Robert Glasper commented, “How long’s it been? Six, seven, eight years?” 

Opening with the titular track from his third album, Black Superhero, released in 2022, Glasper sank easily into the groove with his smooth and profound timbre. While his celebrity collaborators were confined to the annals of Jahi Sundance’s DJ decks, his presence was total. Emanating an effortless cool, Glasper commanded the mic while peppering the keys.

Though the City Recital Hall shook and rattled like corrugated iron with the bass, Glasper’s music had that instantaneous exfoliating effect, subjugating the individual to the music and collectivising that healing experience that all great music is characterised by.

Glasper returned to early virtuosic mashup with a nod to his 2007 Blue Note album, In My Element, and the seemingly disparate yet seamlessly delivered musical combination of Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage and Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place, which saw him cry out, “After years of waiting…”

What a voyage—and after years of waiting! This version pushed well beyond the seven-and-a-half minutes of the studio version and into a stratospheric extended jam. This was that classic jazz experimentative foray that saw the four-piece, DJ Jahi included, wander through a sonic wonderland.

Later, Glasper broke into the refrain, “When I dream, I dream of you”, while Björk’s wistful voice lilted in the background. Then, the song explored, exploding into a glorious mess of drums before dropping away into a slow jam, building from a deceptively rudimentary beat before burgeoning into something wondrous.  

This music carries you, soaring to the ceiling and back; it drives you to move your body, tap your feet and slap your knee where you might normally dance. Yet, the sterile opulence of the Recital Hall impedes you from letting loose entirely. For a sold-out show, there were a lot of empty seats, so perhaps there are some mixed messages.

Still, the band gave all, leading us towards a sonic reverie. Amidst the auditory smorgasbord moving from neo-soul to experimental jazz, Glasper had time to plug his accompaniment: “Jahi Sundance, don’t you have a new album out? Love Isn’t Enough. Full of collabs…Including me. And I gave you the hoagie price. Go ahead and give me that money,” he jested.

Justin Tyson launched into an epic drum solo, fusing percussive dexterity and seamless rhythmic shifts in a long and meandering performance. Once he was finished, Glasper gibed, “You didn’t do the twirl…If you like what he did, whatever – Justin Taylor.” Someone screamed out, “More jazz!” Glasper raised his eyebrows in awkward appreciation. “A Chain is my shit,” Sundance said. “Her TikTok is lit!”

And so the night swirled on, blurring into a haze of beautiful music.