Glasper Serves Up Entertaining Style

OTTAWA — Much has been made of Robert Glasper's blend of jazz and hip-hop, but there was little of that polarizing figure at the helm of a dynamic trio at the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival Sunday night.

Instead, Glasper offered a set of mainly serious contemporary jazz — by turns, pretty, intense, energetic, hard-swinging — and when he mixed it up, it was with bits of comedy.

Yes, it turns out Glasper is something of a joker, and for all of his reputation as a jazz bad boy who hangs with rappers, it seems he can't resist camping it up for audiences and especially his bandmates.

The humour made a nice foil for the music, which was played in long stretches with few breaks between songs and included passages of complex ruminations and dense clusters of chords.

Glasper played several compositions from his latest album, Double-Booked, half of which features his regular working trio playing smart, modern jazz and the other half features larger bands experimenting with electronics and rap, with hip hop overtones of beat mixes and world pulses.

For Ottawa, Glasper stuck mainly to the jazz material, giving large roles to bassist Alan Hampton and Chris Dave, his usual trio drummer. The up-tempo 59 South was played with energy and intense soloing, while the moody Downtime was thoughtful and melodic.

Perhaps the highlight was a chant-like, atmospheric take on Bjork's Yoga, with a long, wistful almost countrified rumination from Glasper.