Coinciding with its Black Music Month celebratory concentrate on jazz this yr, Apple Music and award-winning artist/producer Robert Glasper have partnered for the unique launch of his newest album Let Go. (The Grammy- and Emmy-winning artist’s newest mission is on the market on Apple Music now.)
In a launch concerning the new partnership, Apple Music international editorial head of hip-hop and R&B Ebro Darden stated, “At Apple Music, we perceive that jazz will not be solely foundational to Black music, however all well-liked music. So ensuring we lean in and do extra with jazz needed to be a precedence.”
As its title implies, Let Go is meant to assist folks recalibrate mentally in a world rife with challenges. Among the many album’s few vocal moments is the observe “Respiration Underwater,” which encompasses a visitor flip by artist/bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. Transferring ahead, the unique partnership between Apple Music and Glasper will embody further albums, a radio present and a stay efficiency by the musician.
“My entire profession, everyone’s been saying my music is meditative,” Glasper stated of Let Go in Apple Music’s announcement. “Individuals say they research to my music, pray to my music, do yoga to my music; they simply zone out. Individuals have needed me to do that for a very long time. I wouldn’t name it the ‘meditation mission’ or nothing like that, nevertheless it’s one thing you’ll be able to placed on that helps you discover your heart. It’s simply one thing that quiets the world and lets you see what’s inside.”
Among the many musicians who labored on the album’s instrumental tracks are drummer Kendrick Scott, bassist Burniss Travis and guitarist Chris Sholar, of whom Glasper famous, “The musicians are very, crucial as a result of they should have that very same circulate and that very same heart. [For example], the drummer is a water signal. All the pieces he performs is water. He seems like water. And that’s what I needed for this. I needed it to be liquid.”
In honor of Juneteenth (June 19), Apple Music’s jazz focus shall be supplemented by Freedom Songs 2024. The playlist of unique songs and covers is carried out by next-gen jazz musicians resembling Lakecia Benjamin, Theo Croker, Savannah Harris, J. Hoard, Alexis Lombre, Endea Owens, Joel Ross, Cisco Swank, Kamasi Washington and Immanuel Wilkins. Apple can be providing curated collections of music spotlighting the function that jazz has performed – and continues to play – in different genres like hip-hop, rock, R&B/soul, dance and digital music by means of albums, playlists and radio episodes saluting the heroes of jazz then and now.
Glasper’s final formal launch was 2022’s Black Radio III. The set featured a various mixture of artists from R&B, hip-hop and jazz such because the aforementioned Ndegeocello, Esperanza Spalding, Killer Mike, Q-Tip, H.E.R. and Gregory Porter. The album gained the Grammy for greatest R&B album final yr.
