Keith's Music Spotlight-Robert Glasper

In addition to commenting on Politics, Economics and such...I also like to keep abreast of what's going on in the music world...Not just the traditional R&B ,Hip Hop and Pop, but the un traditional..The untested..Apparently...I've been sleeping on this cat, Robert Glasper for awhile...He's already won a grammy for his release, Black Radio...and is set to release "Black Radio 2" in a few days which will feature, Jill Scott,Faith Evans and Anthony Hamilton among others...

So who is Robert Glasper???  For those like me who didn't know...He's a fellow Aries...born April 5, 1978 in Houston ,Texas...He is an American jazz pianist and record producer. His 2012 album Black Radio won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 55th Grammy Awards pre-show.  I totally slept on that...Not like me at all..


Robert Glasper's earliest musical influence was his mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who sang jazz and blues professionally. She took him with her to club dates rather than leave her son with babysitters. She also performed in church where the young Glasper began playing piano, and performed during services at three churches: Baptist, Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist. Glasper has said that he first developed his sound in church, where he learned his own way to hear harmony, and was inspired to mix church and gospel harmonies with jazz harmonies.

Robert Glasper attended Elkins High School in Sugarland, Texas and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. At the New School, Glasper met neo-soul singer Bilal Oliver. They began performing and recording together, which led to associations with a variety of hip-hop and R&B artists parallel to Glasper's emerging jazz career. He has worked with Bilal and Mos Def as musical director, Q-Tip (The Renaissance), Kanye West (Late Registration), Meshell Ndegeocello (The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams), J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Common, Slum Village and Maxwell, with whom he toured extensively on 2009’s BLACKsummers'night tour.

His very first album, Mood, was released by Fresh Sound New Talent in 2004, after the pianist's stints playing in bands with guitarists Russell Malone and Mark Whitfield, bassist Christian McBride, and trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove. The album features six original compositions by Robert Glasper alongside versions of "Blue Skies", "Alone Together", and Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage", featuring guest vocalist Bilal. Glasper has said that his arrangement of the Hancock tune was inspired by the Radiohead song "Everything in Its Right Place".

Blue Note Records released Canvas, Glasper's major-label debut, in 2005. The album features nine original songs and a version of Hancock’s "Riot". Robert Glasper plays the Fender Rhodes on three tracks, and Bilal sings on two. In My Element, released in 2006, includes songs written in honor of Glasper's mother ("Tribute") and hip-hop producer J Dilla ("J Dillalude"). The pianist also revisits Hancock's "Maiden Voyage", which segues into a version of "Everything in Its Right Place", and quotes Duke Ellington’s "Fleurette Africaine".

Robert Glasper's 2009 album Double-Booked is divided between songs performed by Glasper in an acoustic piano trio and funk-influenced tracks played on electric instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the vocoder (used on a version of Hancock's "Butterfly"). The album features voice mail recordings from Blanchard and Roots drummer Questlove, and guest vocals and spoken word appearances by Bilal and Mos Def. Bilal received a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track "All Matter".

Robert Glasper has performed at jazz festivals throughout the world, and his trio performed at the 2007 Bonnaroo Music Festival as part of Blue Note's "Somethin' Else" jazz tent. In addition to his working trio (Chris Dave, drums; Vicente Archer, bass), he also leads the Robert Glasper Experiment (Derrick Hodge, Mark Colenburg, and Casey Benjamin), in which he explores fusions of jazz and hip hop.


On February 28, 2012, Glasper released Black Radio, which featured performances by many neo-soul and hip hop artists including Lupe Fiasco, Bilal, Lalah Hathaway and Yasiin Bey. This synthesis of hip hop and jazz is supposedly Glasper's attempt to correct what he sees as a lack of new energy in the jazz genre. In the April 2012 issue of Down Beat,Robert  Robert Glasper stated that "I've gotten bored with jazz to the point where I wouldn't mind something bad happening. Slapping hurts, but at some point it'll wake you up. I feel like jazz needs a big-ass slap." On November 5, 2012, Black Radio Recovered: The Remix EP was released with five remixed tracks from the prior album.

A few weeks ago on October 29, 2013 ,Robert Glasper released Black Radio 2, with Fiasco and Hathaway returning from the prior album (Bilal is featured on a bonus track in the Deluxe Edition).^[1] Like the prior album, the band performed with a cross-section of R&B, Neo-soul, and Hip-hop artists, with some tracks having a segue at the end to reprise the prior song or introduce the next track.

 Robert Glasper's albums are centered around his work as a solo artist, and two bands: The Robert Glasper Trio (on piano Robert Glasper, drummer Chris Dave, and bassist Vicente Harper) as an acoustic jazz trio, and The Robert Glasper Experiment (Glasper, Dave, saxophonist/vocalist Casey Benjamin and bassist Mark Colenburg) as an electronic act that defies genre norms from any single discipline. “That’s what makes this band unique... We can go anywhere, literally anywhere, we want to go. We all have musical ADD and we love it.”
With primary influences in neo-soul, hip-hop, jazz, gospel, and R&B, Robert Glasper also has reinterpreted songs from rock acts Nirvana, Radiohead, Soundgarden, and David Bowie. As a jazz artist, Rashod D. Ollison reviewed him after the release of Canvas as "a gifted jazz musician with a brilliant, energetic technique and a fresh, mesmerizing sense of melody and composition...

So below here is a sampling of his new release....It features  fellow Philadelphian  Jill Scott ....

(Special thanks to the OkayPlayer website and Google)

Keith's Music Spotlight

Today is Saturday....Focus on love, your significant other....Hope you all enjoy some grown folks music to accompany that...

Weekend Humor

Three criminals are sentenced to exile in the desert and can only bring one personal item.

"I brought a loaf of bread, so when I get hungry, I'll have something to eat," said the first criminal.

"I brought a water skin, so that when I get thirsty, I'll have something to drink," said the second.

The third criminal looks proud of himself. "I brought a car door, so when it gets hot, I can roll down the window."

HAVE A GROOVY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Keith's Favorite Quotes

End Of An Era

Allen Iverson is formally retiring from Professional Basketball tonight...As I write this...His jersey is being retired at the Wells Fargo Center ...It's truly the end of an era...The end of a time when the 76ers actually were a good team..


Saying he's lost his desire to play, Allen Iverson formally announced his retirement from basketball Wednesday.

Allen Iverson last played in the NBA in the 2009-10 season, when he played three games with the Memphis Grizzlies and 25 with the Philadelphia 76ers -- he spent the first 10 years of his 14-year career with the Sixers -- before leaving both teams. He last played professionally in Turkey during the 2010-11 season but left halfway through the first season of a two-year contract.Allen Iverson was offered a contract to play in the NBA Development League with the Texas Legends last year but ultimately declined it.

"I gave everything I had to basketball," Allen Iverson said at the Wells Fargo Center. "The passion is still there but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride."


Hall of Famer Julius Erving and John Thompson, Iverson's college coach at Georgetown, attended the news conference along with his mother, Ann, and three of his five children. 76ers owner Josh Harris spoke at the ceremony but Iverson was not formally recognized by the team. That is expected to happen later this season and include a retirement of his No. 3 jersey. He played parts of 12 seasons in Philadelphia after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft.
Iverson said he'll be a Sixer "until the day I die."

Allen Iverson, 38, declined to directly address a number of issues that have been raised in the years since he last played in the NBA. There have been media reports describing his problems with alcohol and gambling as well as financial issues despite earning more than $200 million in salary and endorsements. Iverson and wife Tawanna divorced earlier this year.

"It does bother me, I have a heart just like everybody else," Allen Iverson said of the recent stories. "People have encouraged me to [publically] address those issues. But if I know and my family knows and people that are close to me know, why do I have to explain myself? It's hard having rhino skin sometimes. ... A negative story about Allen Iverson is going to sell regardless. Nobody wants to talk about what I do for [charities]. That's how this world is."

Several times Allen Iverson said he had no regrets about anything in his playing career. It was a decorated career that included 11 All-Star Games, four scoring titles and the 2001 Most Valuable Player Award. He was one of the biggest draws in the NBA during that time and his popularity with young kids led Reebok to sign him to a lifetime contract.


His career also included moments where he quarreled with coaches and management and had off-court issues with the law. One of his most memorable moments was a rant during the 2002 playoffs about his habits in practice.

Allen Iverson said Wednesday he didn't regret that, either.

"It wasn't just about that I didn't like practice or care about practice or anything like that," Iverson said. "If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have done the interview. As far as how I expressed practice, practice, practice over and over again, I wouldn't take that back. That sound bite -- because it's great for the media and great for the fans, they love it -- but they had no idea my best friend just got killed. They had no idea that press conference wasn't about practice, it was about me not being traded from Philadelphia. That's what I thought I was at that podium to talk about."

Earlier this week, LeBron James said Iverson was the best "pound-for-pound" player in league history because of his abilities and toughness despite being 6-foot and just 160 pounds. As he reflected on his career,Allen  Iverson said influencing players like James and the league's culture is one of his legacies.


"I took an ass kicking for me being me in my career," Iverson said. "For me looking the way I look and me dressing the way I dress. It was just being me. Now, look around, now all of the guys in the NBA have tattoos. You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows. Now you see the police officers with the cornrows. I took a beating for those type of things and I'm proud to say I changed a lot with this culture and this game."

Allen Iverson said he's not sure what his future holds. He is working on a documentary about his life and has been doing speaking engagements, recently speaking to players at SMU, where former 76ers coach Larry Brown now works.

Although he delayed his retirement announcement to exhaust all his professional basketball opportunities and believes he could still be effective in the NBA today, he said he arrived at the decision on his own terms.
"I promise you it is a happy day for me," he said. "I thought this day would be a tough day but it's a happy day."

But for a fan like me...It's a very sad and meloncholy day.

The Tao of Barack Obama

The Government shutdown is over and The Tea Party clearly lost that round....I think I may have stated pre-maturely that that sounded the death knell of the Tea Party....Now that my elation has subsided and I'm capable of sober thought again...I realize that that may not be so....Not yet anyway...

Ohhh ,Poll numbers will shift, issues will change and members of Congress -- in both parties -- will have spent several weeks back in their home states telling supporters how they fought the good fight in Washington.

So, even if the president stared down Sen. Ted Cruz and the Tea Party idiots in the House to get the government re-opened, he shouldn't get too complacent. Shouldn't get too elated just yet.

With the Tea Party's negatives at 49 percent, they're  been momentarily spanked, but  you can be sure they'll find a way to make President Obama's life difficult next year.

But for this week, anyway, the takeaway from the GOP's failure to defund Obamacare -- their stated goal at the outset of the shutdown -- is that they'll have a hard time working their political will until they decide to take the president seriously.

Yeah that's right...They really don't take him seriously and this is why they lost and lost so decisively...

Because faced with a shutdown and potentially caving in to the threat of a default that could upend world markets, President Obama opted to stand tall and try to avoid instant lame-duck status.
It probably wasn't a tough choice, and Republicans made it easy for him by calculating that President Obama wouldn't have the guts to call their bluff.

In effect, their game plan -- break President Obama with Obamacare -- and their unwillingness to approach him as a worthwhile adversary, worked to their detriment. Here's how they underestimated him..

The Brother has got skills!

Although now it seems like it was meant to happen all along, six years ago, conventional wisdom said that a black guy probably couldn't be elected president...Buttttt, it has happened...Not only that, but it's happened twice.

So whether or not Republicans ever decide to reach accommodation with President Obama on the critical issues of the day, when challenging him, they ought to keep in mind that a guy from Honolulu, who first ran for president in his late forties and beat a war hero and a governor's son en route to winning the White House, probably has some political skill...

They believed their own Hype!

It is said that the biggest fool is the man who believes his own lies...President Obama has consistently run a middle course during his tenure, and most voters recognize this. If he really had turned out to be the muslim-socialist apologist-in-chief that his opponents often say he is, then they'd have been able to grab the upper hand in this fight.

But after the president adopted Mitt Romney's health coverage plan, made good on his 2008 promise to "kill Bin Laden" and used the occasion of his March on Washington 50th anniversary speech to lecture that "too often" calls for civil rights have been "framed as a mere desire for government support," President Obama's clearly dismissed any suggestion that he's a flaming left-winger.

Fool Me Once, Shame on you...but Fool Me Twice....

Soooo...while the precedent for the shutdown-debt-ceiling standoff was set when President Obama and Democrats agreed to a lower, "sequester"-level budget resolution in an effort to avoid a government default back in 2011, it should have been apparent why this time was different.

President Obama had to compromise two years ago, because Republicans hadn't yet shown voters that they'd turn a default threat into a routine negotiation tactic. This time, though, the president could claim that he was forced to end the threat, even if it meant negotiating way past the 11th hour.

In the end, just like members of Congress, President Obama's a politician. He'll horse-trade (think "Don't ask, don't tell"), he'll dodge (think Guantánamo Bay) and he'll offer concessions that his supporters (like yours truly) don't like (think "chained CPI" for Social Security). But nobody, Nobody with an ounce of self respect will bargain with adversaries if they won't take him seriously. And with this president, there are bargains to be had.

Next time, they should make him an offer that isn't quite so easy to refuse.  Let's pray there is no next time for the Tea Party.

Need I Say Anymore?

Wekend Humor

Three guys are at the gates of Heaven, and God tells them, "We have a special today! If you died a terrible death, you're in for free."

 So God asks the first guy his story. "I was a hard working man and a loving husband, but I began to suspect that my wife was cheating on me. One day, I called in sick to work and left for home to hide and closely watch my apartment. I saw a man go in, and I decided to wait a few minutes to catch them in the act. Then, I started banging on my door. They wouldn't open it, so I broke down the door and walked in to see my wife sitting naked, but the man wasn't in sight. I went to the balcony, where I saw a naked man hanging on the edge. I began to stomp on his hands until he fell down, but there were bushes, so I got my fridge and tossed it on him. In the process of tossing the fridge, I also fell over and died."

God replies, "Wow, that's pretty bad, finding out your wife cheated and falling off your balcony. You pass."

The second guy says, "God, my only crime was that I enjoyed dancing naked in my apartment while eating pickles out of the jar. I was doing just that one day, when I slipped on a pickle and fell over my balcony. Luckily, I was able to grab on to the ledge below mine. After a few minutes, a man came and I thought he was going to rescue me, but he began to stomp on my hands. I fell, but luckily, I fell into the bushes. I thought I had survived, but that man threw a fridge at me and I died!"

 God replies, "Wow, that's very cruel, being crushed to death."

The third man says, "I died naked  while hiding in a fridge."

Everybody have a groovy weekend!

I Think The (Tea)Party is Over!

Well...After extremists in The Republican Party shut down the government ,nearly ruined the nations credit rating and cost the nation about 24 billion....The Money Boys are finally running out of patience with them...
We might be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Tea Party....

There have been several reports out over the past few days about an evidently riled business-lobby community in the wake of the government shutdown and Congress’s flirtation with default, and that — especially in the event of another fiscal showdown this January/February — several major business groups are apparently thinking about pulling on their extra-establishmenty boots and doin’ work on behalf of what they see as more moderate and “business-friendly” candidates in next year’s pre-midterm primaries. Via the Financial Times:

In particular, attention is focusing on how to tilt the balance of power within the Republican party towards more moderate members who are less likely than staunch conservative Tea Party lawmakers to encourage brinkmanship over the budget.

“The shutdown exposed how high the stakes are. It is time to get back involved,” says David French, senior vice-president for government relations and chief lobbyist at the National Retail Federation (NRF), which represents many US retailers. …

Mr French said he did not believe the relationship was “profoundly damaged” and noted that on “95 per cent of the items” even the most ardent Tea Partiers and the business community were in agreement. Moreover, he said many of the disagreements were over “tactics” rather than policy and that Democrats shared some of the blame in the US political dysfunction.

But he added that if the business community was “particularly angry at the Tea Party, it is because they risked a whole lot in order to make a point I think any direct mail marketer could make with a first-class stamp”.

 If this is true and more business groups do wind up throwing their support behind what they see as more centered  or moderate candidates, though, how much of an impact will it have? Politico points out some of the skepticism:

 Despite the public grousing and aggressive posture of top executives and Washington operatives, there’s little evidence that trade associations and other business-minded groups will actually be able to move the needle in the 2014 election.
 
“The Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action and FreedomWorks are really just eating the lunch of some of the normal business groups,” said Dan Mattoon, former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. …

“Fundamentally, if the business community wants to be more engaged in the grass-roots politics, they have to have a permanent presence there,” Heritage Action’s Dan Holler said. “Arguably, there are local businesses at every level. They could be the conduit for that message. The problem is the policies big business groups are trying to sell don’t resonate outside of Washington.”

Advocates of pushing the primary envelope are looking largely to the Chamber of Commerce to lead the charge. The business group has long had one of the most active political operations in Washington and also is used to soliciting big checks from its members. …
Chamber President Thomas Donohue “is all in,” the source said.

But Chamber President Thomas Donohue was coy on whether or not any of this is actually happening at a recent breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor:

 "We have no idea what we are going to have on the table. We still have to see who is running, we still have to see what happens on the next activity on the deficit. We still have to see what the circumstances are,” Mr. Donohue said. The chamber will begin making decisions about its congressional election activities in the first quarter of 2014, according to Bruce Josten, the chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, who also spoke at the breakfast.
Donohue was asked about Senator Cruz, who argued that the House should tie a vote to fund the government with defunding of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “I don’t know Senator Cruz,” he said. “We are all getting to watch him. I sort of think about him as a tennis player. You know if you are going to rush the net all the time you better have a lot of motion to the left and the right. He hasn’t proved that to me yet.”

 Hmmm. I imagine  we’ll eventually see how all of this plays out next year, and in the midterm elections.. but going back to the Financial Times piece, I would merely highlight a couple of points made in their conclusion via a conversation with House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa.

Darrell Issa, the Republican congressman who chairs the House oversight committee and is a former businessman, said business would be helped if John Boehner, the Republican Speaker, had 20 more Republican votes to help get legislation passed, which in turn would weaken the more hardline arm of the party.
But he warned that teaching a lesson to hardliners should not come at the expense of handing the House majority back to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the lower chamber, whose policies on energy such as cap and trade, for instance, are seen as far more dangerous to business interests.
Mr Issa also pointed a finger of blame at the companies themselves, in a sign that frayed relations between business and Republicans cut both ways, saying they were often too focused on their narrow self-interest. “Microsoft, IBM, Archer Daniels – they do not have an ideology. They will give money to people who hurt 80 per cent of what they care about if it helps their bottom line,” he said.

I'm watching all of this dysfunction amongst conservatives and extremists in the Republican party and smiling softly...I'm hoping that this division continues and the eventually the entire thing falls apart and we get more liberal and progressive candidates elected... Our country has been damaged enough by the Republican Party....It truly is time for a change and if we get that change by a GOP implosion....well....I'm good with that!

Another Word From Our Sponser

Last night,I had a vivid dream....I woke up angry....After I sat on the side of the bed for awhile...I realized that I had been dreaming...dreaming about somebody who has been dead for years....

I also realized that I was still bitter about something this person did to me years ago...
Something I should have put behind me...Especially since the person is dead.

It occurred to me that many of us are inmates in that prison called Bitterness....We stay locked up for years in our jail cells of bitterness and anger about real and imagined slights...We stay angry at people who don't know we are angry at them or if they do know...They don't care...So who are we hurting?

The difference in this prison called Bitterness is that we have the keys in our cells to release ourselves....but we have misplaced them and can't find them..So we stay imprisoned....Find those keys...Unlock those doors...Get over it..Get over yourself....I do not know about life being short or not...but it's definitely not as long as we think it is...Free yourself from the prison of bitterness...(Drops the mike and leaves the podium!)

Keith's Favorite Quotes

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."

-Bruce Lee

I was Prepared To Talk Trash Today but.....

I was prepared to talk trash this morning but......................we lost the game.

In an unexpected defensive tussle, the depleted Dallas Cowboys delivered the knockout punch....to the Eagles!

Tony Romo threw for 317 yards and one touchdown, a banged-up defense shut down Chip Kelly's prolific offense and the Cowboys overcame a sluggish start to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 17-3 on Sunday to take sole possession of first place in the NFC East.
At least there won't be a quarterback controversy in Philadelphia after this one. Nick Foles was just awful in this one,leaving with a head injury.

"Obviously, our defense was outstanding," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "That offense challenges you in so many ways. They have a really good scheme. Our defense played sound, played together. They were physical and our tackling was outstanding."


Two teams that averaged a combined 58.2 points per game and allowed a combined 55.2 totaled 13 punts in a first half that ended with Dallas (4-3) leading 3-0. It was more two inept offenses than two dominant defenses.

A Cowboys defensive line missing three of its projected starters pressured and harassed Foles until putting him out on the final play of the third quarter. With Michael Vick inactive because of a hamstring injury, Matt Barkley made his NFL debut and threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter...OUCH!

"I was maybe a little too aggressive on some of those throws, trying to advance the ball down the field and help our team win," Barkley said. "I learned a lot today. I'll learn even more watching the tape."
The Eagles (3-4) have lost a franchise-worst nine straight games at home. Their last win at the Linc was over the New York Giants on Sept. 30, 2012.

Dallas played without four-time All-Pro defensive end DeMarcus Ware, who missed the first game in his nine-year career because of a quadriceps injury. Anthony Spencer, the end opposite Ware, is out for the season after knee surgery. Four-time Pro Bowl tackle Jay Ratliff was released during the week after failing a physical.

Didn't matter...They won without them today.

Nicky Foles, coming off an impressive performance at Tampa Bay last week that earned him NFC Player of the Week honors, had his worst game since his first career start at Washington last November.

He finished 11 of 29 for 80 yards and was sacked three times. Foles misfired on several throws to open receivers, including a low throw to Jason Avant in the end zone in the third quarter.

"All of us on offense, our decision making wasn't very good," Kelly said. "It was all of us on offense. It's not just one guy."

Kelly is hopeful Vick will return this week. (Yes..so is everybody else)There was no word on the extent of Foles' injury.

The Eagles sorely missed Vick's scrambling ability. Also, Vick's presence makes LeSean McCoy more dangerous because teams have to be wary of both in Kelly's read-zone offense.

Shady McCoy, the NFL's leading rusher, was held to 55 yards on 18 carries.
"We knew it was going to be an extreme challenge coming in, and I felt we answered the bell," said linebacker Sean Lee, who had one of the picks on Barkley.

Yeah, they answered the bell and rung ours....Oh well...There is always next week!