The election of an African-American president may have surprised many, but the jazz community has always been a sect of true believers in the progress of humanity. Many jazz people are quick to posit that this day was never dependent on the conditional "if" clause. It was only a matter of when.Pianist Robert Glasper is a recent example of the freedom principle at work — a young man who's walking proof that art is forever the great (small-d) democrat. The 30-year-old Houston native is one of the major pianists of his time, with a gift for harmony that evokes the very best in jazz. It's that mysterious feeling that rides tandem with American creative genius, the sense of liberation of the body and soul that, according to John F. Kennedy, "finds its greatest flowering in the free society."
"Half of me is surprised and half of me is not surprised, because it is a new day," Glasper says. "I always knew it was going to happen. The very next day after he was elected president, I went on tour in Europe. I was in Spain, I was in London, I was in France, everywhere. It was like Barack-mania out there. Just to have European countries care and be inspired is amazing. It's not just good for America; it's good for the world."...
Continue reading and listen to the music at NPR By Josh Jackson
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