Robert Glasper Biography

Pianist and producer Robert Glasper’s 2012 album Black Radio won a Grammy for best R&B album, and his follow-up, Black Radio 2, won for best traditional R&B performance the next year.

The year after that (2015), Glasper scored another Grammy for “These Walls,” his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp a Butterfly. That same year, he was nominated for the best jazz instrumental album, Covered: Recorded Live at Capitol Studios.

He grew up singing in church and playing piano for his mom, a singer. Glasper studied at New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he met and collaborated with “neo-soul” singer Bilal Oliver.

He began releasing records in 2004, and in 2005 made his major label debut with Canvas.

Glasper is an accomplished pianist whose recordings reflect his love of the Fender Rhodes electric piano. From Soul and R&B to hip-hop and funk, Glasper mixes genres but is known as one of the premier jazz artists and producers of his generation.

He has worked with many different recording artists, including Mos Def, Kanye West, Common and Erykah Badu. 

His other albums include In My Element (2006) and Double-Booked (2009), and he supervised the soundtrack music for Miles Ahead, the 2015 Don Cheadle film about Miles Davis. The soundtrack won a Grammy as the best compilation for visual media.