Recorded during their month-long residency at New York's Blue Note in 2018, Live finds the all-star collective R+R=Now further expanding their vibrant fusion of post-bop jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. Led by keyboardist Robert Glasper, R+R=Now also features trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, saxophonist/synth-player/vocoder vocalist Terrace Martin, keyboardist Taylor McFerrin, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Justin Tyson. Live was captured the same year the group released their debut album, Collagically Speaking, and features some of the same songs. Here we get atmospherically funky tracks like "Respond," "Been on My Mind," and "Needed You Still." We also get their Middle Eastern-tinged rendition of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost." There's also a moody psychedelic track not included on Collagically Speaking, "Perspectives/Postpartum," which combines compositions by Adjuah and McFerrin into a long, synthy, '80s-style fever dream. Many of R+R=Now's songs have a circular, groove-oriented vibe that brings to mind icons of '70s fusion like Herbie Hancock and George Duke. It's a sound well-suited to extended soloing and the kind of live group jamming Glasper and his bandmates are going for here. Some of these tracks, including the aforementioned "Perspectives/Postpartum" and the fiery 25-minute "Resting Warrior" benefit from this in-the-moment energy and evoke a wild combination of Weather Report and Stevie Wonder. Others, like the languid "Been on My Mind" with its yearning vocoder melodies from Martin, feel like an alien quiet-storm ballad broadcasting from somewhere in space. Boldly contemporary, but informed by a deep love of vintage jazz-funk traditions, Live perfectly capture's R+R=Now's cosmic, genre-bending vibes. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

1		Respond
2		Been on My Mind
3		How Much a Dollar Cost
4		Change of Tone
5		Perspectives_Postpartum
6		Needed You Still
7		Resting Warrior

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