R+R=Now Live (Live) [feat. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Taylor McFerrin & Justin Tyson]

“The essence of jazz is responding and reflecting,” pianist and producer Robert Glasper tells Apple Music. “The truth of the music is to be in the moment with each other—to not overthink it.” This combination of confident intuition and playful interaction has led Glasper to become one of the most vital proponents of 21st-century jazz, with his chromatic style of piano playing adorning everything from Kendrick Lamar records to straight-ahead trio work and the amorphous fusion of his Experiment group. His 2017 formation of the R+R=NOW band was the apotheosis of decades of collaboration. Featuring Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah on trumpet, Lamar producer Terrace Martin on saxophone and vocoder, Taylor McFerrin on keyboards, Derrick Hodge on bass, and Justin Tyson on drums, the group was created for a jam session during the 2017 SXSW Festival but soon realized they had more to say. Reflect + Respond = Now was born. Following the release of 2018’s Collagically Speaking, an LP of entirely improvised compositions, the band joined Glasper for his annual residency at New York’s hallowed Blue Note club that October. The resulting live recording showcases extended takes on tracks from that album and even a cover of Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost.” “I love the live experience,” Glasper says. “Now is the perfect time to respond to our current situation with this album. I want you to be in the room with us when you listen—to laugh, to cry, to feel all the emotions.” Glasper walks us through how each track came to life on the Blue Note stage.

Respond
"On the first record, Christian Scott was in the booth and he started playing this melody. Derrick heard it and he started playing behind Christian, so then it became a duet, and Justin soon added the drums. That might have been the first song we put down; the group just responded to the reason why we were there. It's such a strong melody and I love the way Christian plays it. Live in this set you can feel him calling to the ancestors; he really digs in when he plays. I don't even come in for most of it."

Been on My Mind
"In the studio, at the end of ‘Respond' we just kept jamming and then that morphed into this tune. A lot of people only know Terrace Martin as a producer, but once you hear him play saxophone, you recognize him from To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, probably the only major hip-hop album that has alto saxophone on 90 percent of it. This track on the live album is introducing Terrace to the live music world, because he doesn't necessarily do a lot of touring. When you hear the vocoder that he plays on this track, you recognize it's the vocoder from Kendrick Lamar, from Snoop Dogg, from J. Cole, YG—all of the production he’s done on these guys' records. It's so fun hearing that in a live situation."

How Much a Dollar Cost
"This wasn't on the album, it just came about at the Blue Note onstage. One night after 'Been on My Mind,' I kept playing and I randomly went into 'How Much a Dollar Cost'; the band jumped on and it was a vibe so we kept doing it. That's a Terrace Martin production for Kendrick, and even though I'm on eight or nine of the tracks on that record, it's the one song I didn't play on. I love it, though, and I always do a rendition with my trio. Terrace told me he tried to play it like me on the record on purpose! So now it comes full circle and I finally get to record it."

Change of Tone
"Derrick started 'Change of Tone' when we were in the studio. He was messing around with an idea and then the rest of us settled in, each having our own say. It's really fun to play live, since all of the different musical sections on the track mean I can stretch out on it with some pianistic vibes. I'm not one to usually flex my chops, but this is one of those songs where it's cool to do that because you're still nodding your head. I can go crazy over this palette of hip-hop, and that's not something you hear all the time."

Perspectives/Postpartum
"I love the live experience. There's nothing like it. If you lived in New York, there was a chance for 1000 people to see this show; otherwise I want to give that live experience to people through the record. That's why I left in a lot of the noise, things like me talking to the band and being crazy on stage. I left it there on purpose because what's the point of having a live album if it doesn’t sound live? For this track, which is a medley of Taylor McFerrin and Christian Scott’s own compositions, I want people to feel like they bought a ticket and they're sitting right there with us. Especially now when people can't go see live music, it means that much more."

Needed You Still feat. Omari Hardwick
"Omari is an actor and a poet, and he was in LA hanging out when he came and recorded a song for the album spontaneously. Then, during the residency in New York, he was again there to hang out and I asked him to come sit in with us. Omari is very much like a horn player; he improvises, he's in the moment, so a lot of the stuff he's saying live is not on the first record. It is stuff that is happening in that moment. You can hear me going back and forth through his words, so it provides a different perspective. It's very interactive and playful and reflects the spirit in the room."

Resting Warrior
"I wrote this for my little cousin who had just passed away. I was there in the hospital in her final days, watching her fighting to breathe, and I was inspired by being with her and knowing she was a warrior who is now resting. The song taps into something ancestral, as it goes through the spectrum of Black music, from jazz to hip-hop to African rhythms to funk, soul, and gospel. It's so baked in all the colors of Black music. Live, I love stretching out on it, which is why we always keep it at the end of the set. I prefer to really give the song an experience and to not cut it short. When it's live, you want to feel something and you have the opportunity to really convey your feelings to the people. Everybody plays on this song and they all have something different to say."