In My Element (180g) [2LP]

With his Blue Note debut album "Canvas" in 2005, Robert Glasper signaled the arrival of a unique new voice in jazz. And with the follow-up "In My Element" two years later, the pianist cemented his status as a rising star. Together with his trio companions at the time, he showed here that he is just as familiar with the entire jazz tradition as he is with modern rhythm'n'blues and hip-hop.

Blue Note's sound was already firmly anchored in hip-hop in its early days through samples and remixes. But when the DJ, producer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist Madlib was allowed to "plunder" the Blue Note archives for his masterpiece "Shades Of Blue" in 2003, he raised the bar to a new level. The result was a visionary album with remixes and reinterpretations of classic Blue Note recordings by Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Ronnie Foster, Bobby Hutcherson and Wayne Shorter, among others.

"What's particularly impressive about Glasper's playing on 'In My Element' is that he sounds unlike anyone else." (Scott Yanow, AllMusic)