Robert Glasper on jazz, basketball, and his score for "Winning Time"

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert Glasper is the only artist to have an album debut in the top 10 of 4 different Billboard charts. He's a musical polymath whose resume ranges from Kendrick Lamar to Herbie Hancock. At the piano, he serves up jazz licks worthy of Mary Lou Williams before segueing into a Nirvana cover. Glasper brings his diverse skill set to bear on his latest project, the score for the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, composed in collaboration with "Succession" soundtracker Nicholas Britell. It's not just Glasper's musical chops that made him the perfect candidate for the gig: in a past life, he was a baller himself. Nate spoke with Glasper about crafting the sound of the 1980s, improvising soundtrack themes on the spot, and what jazz and basketball have in common. Songs Discussed Robert Glasper - Over, FTB, "Winning Time" and "The Photograph" Themes Nicholas Britell - "Succession" and "Moonlight" Themes Morris Day and The Time - Get It Up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by FX's, Fleischmann is in trouble.
0:04.0	Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Daines, Lizzy Kaplan, and Adam Brody,
0:08.2	this drama tells the story of recently divorced Toby Fleischmann who dives into the world of
0:13.4	app-based dating. The kind of success he never had in his youth. Then, his ex-wife disappears,
0:19.1	leaving him with her two children and no hint of her return. FX's Fleischmann is in trouble,
0:24.6	now streaming only on Hulu.
0:39.8	Welcome to Switched On Pop, I'm a musicologist-nate Sloan. Robert Glassper is a pianist and composer
0:46.0	who's worked blurs the lines between Jazz, Hip Hop, and Pop. He's won multiple Grammys,
1:01.2	including Best R&B Album for his release Black Radio, and he's worked with everyone from
1:07.2	Kendrick Lamar to Herbie Hancock. Most recently, Glassper wrote the score, alongside composer
1:12.9	Nick Prattell, for the HBO series, Winning Time, The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which follows
1:19.0	Magic Johnson, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, and the rest of the legendary LA basketball squad as they surge
1:25.3	to prominence in the late 1970s and early 80s. The first pick, 1979 NBA draft, the Los Angeles
1:33.6	Lakers Select, Irvin, Magic Johnson. I spoke with Robert Glassper about scoring on the fly the
1:44.7	challenge of channeling vintage tones and what Jazz and Basketball have in common. Here's our conversation.
1:56.9	Robert Glassper, welcome to Switched On Pop. Thank you so much for having me, appreciate it.
2:02.3	We're here to talk about your score for the HBO series Winning Time, and I'd like to know what
2:08.0	made you sign on to this project in the first place. The way I got on it was Nick Prattell,
2:13.9	who was the initial composer for it, and he's done some of the amazing things already.
2:19.6	You know, I was a fan of his. So when his people called, my people was like, hey,
2:24.0	Nick Prattell, want you to join him on a score? I was like, fuck yeah, I don't even know what it was.
2:29.2	I was like, yeah. So you didn't even know what the project was. It was just a chance to work with Nick.
	...

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