Jazz and soul vocalist Bilal

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bilal is a vocalist with a foot in two worlds. He's a rap fan's favorite jazz singer, or a jazz fan's favorite hip hop singer. He joins to talk about his new project Live at Glasshaus (Glasshaus Presents), which came out earlier this summer. He also shares how he and his longtime collaborator and friend Robert Glasper first met. Plus, Bilal also talks about how he got together with a big band in Germany to perform a Curtis Mayfield tribute concert.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dignity Memorial.
0:04.4	When your celebration of life is prepaid today, your family is protected tomorrow.
0:08.9	Planning ahead is truly one of the best gifts you can give your family.
0:13.5	For additional information, visit dignity memorial.com.
0:18.8	Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of maximum fun.org and is distributed by NPR. It's bullseye, I'm Jesse Flarn. My next guest is a balla, he's a vocalist who straddles two worlds.
0:45.6	You could call him a rap fan's favorite jazz singer.
0:49.2	He appeared on tracks by the clips, Mac Miller, Common, and Kendrick Lamar.
0:53.7	You could also call him a jazz fan's favorite hip-hop singer.
0:57.8	His own work with a band is definitely jazz, but it's also soul and channels a bit of the innovative hip-hop sounds of the producer J Dilla. I've been watching you getting down.
1:14.0	Bala has been a guest on Bullseye before.
1:19.0	Almost a decade and a half ago now.
1:21.0	Earlier this summer he released live at the Glass House.
1:25.4	It's a live album with an accompanying concert film.
1:28.6	A description kind of sells the project short.
1:30.7	Bilal performed for one night only in front of a hundred people with a capital B band,
1:37.0	Robert Glassper, Bernice Travis, Questlove, and Common.
1:41.6	Together they performed a retrospective of music from Bilal's 23 years in the business.
1:47.4	I could talk to you more about it or you could just listen to what I'm talking about.
1:51.4	This is something to hold on to.
1:54.0	Something to hold on to.
1:58.0	Something to hold on to. Something to hold on to.
2:00.0	Is there anything I can do for you darling?
	...

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