Pianist Robert Glasper is known to have jokes but credit the nervous laughter that filled New York City's Le Poisson Rouge Sunday night to his drummer Chris Dave. The Mint Condition & Erykah Badu alum's ferocity elicited a series of moans from some affected female fans leaving the rest of the audience feeling like we had stumbled upon something intimate and quite clear on why Dave, Glasper & bassist Derrick Hodge are recent additions to Maxwell's touring band.

Like Glasper, Dave hails from Houston and is a constant between the pianist's two bands, the jazz-centered Robert Glasper Trio, which trades Hodge for acoustic bassist Vicente Archer and the hip hop, rock & soul imbued Robert Glasper Experiment, which includes multi-instrumentalist Casey Benjamin. Both inclinations appear on Glasper's third Blue Note album Double Booked, and he celebrated its August release with sets devoted to each.

The jazz came first but after DJ Stimulus' Michael Jackson and J-Dilla heavy warm-up rotation, Glasper played to the hip-hop literate. "This is for y'all deejays," he said, vamping a bit, and then he eased into his album's lead off track "No Worries." "Downtime" and "Yes I'm Country (& That's OK)" added poignant balladry and hint of Sunday morning sweetness to the mix before he ceded the sound system back to Stimulus for another spell.

It was Glasper's second set that testified to his relative popularity outside of the jazz world. Since the early aughties when college bud Bilal provided an opportunity for him to show his keyboard and musical direction skills, Glasper has played with or musical directed for Q-Tip, Mos Def, Ledisi, Sa-Ra, Meshell Ndegeocello among others while remaining solidly connected to the jazz community, notably doing time in Terence Blanchard's band.

With a musical vocabulary reflecting that of a 32 year-old and with life experiences that include the tragic loss of his mother to just recently the birth of his first child, Glasper led the Experiment into vast emotional and stylistic territory. Bassist Derrick Hodge, who has produced for Common, put in work on "Festival" and the crew's melding of Herbie Hancock's "Butterfly" with J-Dilla's "Fuck the Police" referenced and exemplified breaking boundaries. Energy among the multi-generational musician-heavy crowd surged when Bilal took stage for his contribution to the album, "All Matter," but may have crested with the Experiment's knocking take on the Stevie Wonder-penned Michael Jackson hit "I Can't Help It." With Benjamin, also of alt soul duo HEAVy, on keytar and vocoder, they opted to stretch out the chorus. It made for a less vulnerable take than the late King of Pop's; it was more matter of fact and eventually gave way to Slum Village's "Fall in Love." Caught up, one pitchy dude sang along loudly, "Don't sell yourself to fall in love." Some side-eyed but most got the enthusiasm even as they disapproved of its expression. Glasper and them rocked.

[Photo: Joey L.]