Blue Note New York
Robert Glasper X Yebba

    $20 Minimum Per Person
    Full Bar & Dinner Menu
    NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES.

    • All seating is first come, first served. 
    • Table Seating is all ages, Bar Area is 21+. Bar Area tickets for patrons under 21 will not be honored. 
    Group Reservations:
    • Groups larger than 10 must purchase a group package at club@bluenote.net, or by calling 212.475.8592.
    • Groups larger than 10 without a group package will be subject to group surcharges added to your bill. 
    • Groups arriving late or separately are not guaranteed to be seated together. All seating is first come, first served. Arrive early for best seats.
    Tickets for Blue Note New York shows are only available for purchase on Ticketweb. We are not affiliated with any third-party sellers. Tickets purchased on third-party sites will not be honored. The credit card used for original purchase of tickets will be required at the door upon entry.
     
     

    • Robert Glasper

      Robert Glasper​ is the leader of a new sonic paradigm with a career that bridges musical and artistic genres. To date, he boasts 3 Grammy wins and 8 nominations across 6 categories, and an Emmy Award for his song for Ava Duvernay’s critically hailed documentary “13th” with Common and Karriem Riggins. 

      Evolution is his hallmark. Glasper’s breakout crossover album ​Black Radio​ changed the face of the genre and set a new expectation for what popular music could be. The album won him the Grammy for best R&B album and established him as the musician of choice for some of the world’s most iconic artists; notably playing keys throughout Kendrick Lamar's ​To Pimp A Butterfly, ​ winning another Grammy for the elastic track “These Walls”. The ongoing Black Radio series has since become Glasper’s calling card, upholding a place at the heart of a trailblazing community: from long-time sonic brothers Mos Def and Bilal, to legends including Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu.  

      Glasper’s eternal pursuit to further his sound has been consistent in challenging and transforming his creative horizons across the board. Whether producing a remix album with Kaytranda or as a bandleader, Robert consistently defies the limits of the genre. This is evident in a portfolio that ranges from his acoustic jazz trio; which simultaneously defies and elevates the traditional idiom by uniting it effortlessly with electronics from visionary DJ Jahi Sundance, to August Greene; a collaboration with Common + Karriem Riggins, to R+R=Now; a supergroup at the crossroads of hip-hop and Jazz. 
      In the last year alone Glasper has seen a staggering diversity of success. He dropped ​Fuck Yo Feelings​ ; a star-studded mixtape; his first on Loma Vista Records; with features ranging from YBN Cordae to Herbie Hancock to Yebba. He created an original score for the Emmy Nominated doc​ The Apollo ​ and the feature film ​The Photograph​ starring Issa Rae. He led a legendary residency at the Blue Note NYC with 56 sold-out shows in 27 days which saw everyone from Dave Chappelle to Tiffany Haddish, Chadwick Boseman, Q-Tip, Anderson.Paak and Angela Davis join him on and off stage. And, alongside long-time collaborator, co-producer, and creative partner Terrace Martin, he formed another dream team supergroup featuring Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder called Dinner Party, who together wrote and recorded a debut self titled album that was released to rave reviews.  

      With boundless innovation and elite technique as his signature it’s no surprise that Glasper has an avalanche of accolades, awards, and achievements to his name - most recently being asked to play at the 2020 March On Washington with Derrick Hodge and funk legend, Sir George Clinton. In August of 2020, Robert released ‘Better Than Imagined’; the first taste of his hotly anticipated forthcoming ​Black Radio 3 ​ album​. ​ Featuring H.E.R and Meshell Ndegeocello, the song advocates for Black love and the power, and responsibility, we have to improve our world; again demonstrating that, above all, Glasper is an artist at the heart of a moment - and a movement - to champion Black music, Black people, and the possibility of a better future. The hip-hop-head-nod ballad is a dedication to just that: the beauty and brilliance of a heritage that is as much Kendrick as it is Coltrane, and which seeks to empower and uplift with every offering.   Both ​Fuck Yo Feelings ​ And ‘Better Than Imagined”  have received Grammy Nominations for the upcoming 2021 Grammy Awards.  

      In his own words: 
      "Black lives matter and so does black love; no one wants a life without love, but we have generations of people in our community who haven't had the tools to actually be in healthy relationships. It seems like people are finally ready to open their eyes to systemic racism in this country, and if we're going to talk about it, we have to also talk about how it affects our relationships, how we communicate, how we see ourselves, how we treat each other. It's not always good, even though maybe it could be." - Robert Glasper  

       
    • Yebba

      In September 2016, a 21-year-old unknown singer named Abbey Smith stepped onstage for a show for SoFar Sounds in New York City, and, accompanied only by a guitarist, pretty much re-arranged the molecules in the room. Her staggeringly emotional performance of a song she had written called “My Mind” (about facing the reality that the one you love is hung up on someone else) finds her throwing her head back and wailing while also managing to deliver remarkably controlled vocal runs. The audience’s stunned shock at witnessing what was clearly a raw expression of pain can be seen in a video of the performance that appeared on YouTube in December 2016 and has now racked up over seven million views.

      Three weeks after Smith’s show for SoFar, one that would set her professional career in motion, the singer’s mother tragically took her own life in the family’s West Memphis home. “It shakes your fundamental belief in what safety is, because that was my mom,” says Smith, who changed her name to Yebba (one of her mother’s nicknames for her).

      In the aftermath, Yebba, broke and grief-stricken, would wake up in her apartment in Harlem, go running, and try to tell herself something positive. “I prayed a lot, but it didn’t feel like it helped,” she says. “I started finding joy by going out to the jazz bar and watching the musicians and jamming with them,” she recalls. “That freed me up musically and the feelings just started coming out. I didn’t give a shit about what I said, or what I sounded like, and that helped me to release a lot of my rage.”

      Though Yebba, a preacher’s daughter who grew up singing in church, has endured unspeakable tragedy, she is a delight to talk to. She is thoughtful, funny, and lightly profane. She is also incapable of striking a false note, whether she’s singing or chatting. Her music and her feelings cannot be untangled. “Music is the communication of my pain,” she says, adding that if she ever feels like she is faking it, she will quit, “give back all the money,” and open a dog rescue on a farm. “I will stop before I ever let anyone take that spirit away from me,” she says. “I just want to sing, whether anybody’s listening or not. Whatever capacity God wants to put me in, I’m going to be there, as long as I can keep my heart.”

      Over the past three years, Yebba’s volcanic talent has been recognized by many of the industry’s most discerning tastemakers. Chance the Rapper invited her to sing back-up when he performed “Same Drugs” on Saturday Night Live in 2016, tweeting that she stole “the show with ridiculous vocals.” Sam Smith featured her on his song “No Peace.” A Tribe Called Quest featured her on their song “Melatonin.” Ed Sheeran invited her to open for him in 2017 and their duet on “Best Part of Me” is a highlight of his latest album. PJ Morton asked her to guest on his cover of “How Deep Is Your Love” — a recording that earned Yebba a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance. And finally, Producer of the Year Grammy winner Mark Ronson features her on three songs on his latest album Late Night Feelings, including the transcendent single “Don’t Leave Me Lonely,” which they co-wrote. He is also producing Yebba’s upcoming debut album, due later this year.

      Ronson, known for his work with Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Lady Gaga, has always had an ear for truly authentic artists and Yebba is no different. “We didn’t come from money, but my parents were great stewards of what they had,” she says of her upbringing. “My dad worked five jobs at one point. He always said, ‘I bust my rear to make sure that y’all have everything you need and most of what you want.’” She grew up idolizing gospel vocal group The Clark Sisters, as well as Aretha and Whitney. “I’d turn up the volume really loud on their records and sit there and cry in front of the speakers,” she recalls. “I think in my weird-ass, seven-year-old mind I felt like the speakers were crying with me.” Yebba wrote poetry for herself in high school, but said she didn’t really start writing songs until her mom passed and “I just absolutely had to.” While attending college, she expected to get her degree in Voice and be a background singer. “My wildest dream was to sing background for Aretha or D’Angelo,” she says. “That was all I expected. It didn’t occur to me that I could do anything as an artist.”

      One day Yebba was out running and she had an epiphany: “I was praying while I was running and I said, ‘Father, if you really want me to be a singer, then I need you to remove these fears one by one.’ I caught the Holy Ghost right then and there. I fell to my knees and just started to weep because I knew I was going to be a singer.” She went home and created a schedule, singing four hours a day and working on her agility, musicality, and endurance. She posted a few short clips on Instagram and before she knew it, the calls started rolling in: J. Moss. Timbaland. Missy Elliott. (“I was at work taking apart a fucking laptop when she called me.”) Yebba dropped out of college and moved to Nashville. Then came her fated trip to New York to perform “My Mind” at SoFar. In 2017, she released her debut single “Evergreen,” which Rolling Stone has called “a slow-burning ballad full of mettle and longing.”

      Over the past year and a half, Yebba has been holed up in New York’s Electric Lady Studios with Ronson, his frequent collaborator Andrew Wyatt, and others, including Robert Glasper, Pino Palladino, The Roots’ James Poyser, as well as her friend, the young jazz pianist James Francies, whom she collaborates with frequently. The songs are about time, grief, and a hope for healing. “Not a lot of relationship shit, because that’s really uninteresting to me at the moment,” she says. “I had to go deeper because of everything going on with my mental health since the trauma. Okay, there’s one romantic song, but the rest is about how to cope. Sometimes it’s mockery of the people who try to comfort you. One song is about the day my mom died and a bunch of church people who were in my face saying, ‘Well, now she’s with Jesus.’ That doesn’t fucking help. But creatively, so much more is available to me because I have taken time to process my trauma.”

      Yebba’s songs may be borne of sadness, but there is also a tremendous amount of freedom in them. Because what is more freeing than truly giving yourself permission to express your feelings, even if they’re big, without hiding? “That is real shit, right there,” Yebba agrees. “That’s what I want people to feel when they hear the music. Complete peace. No fear. I want them to forget about all the neurotic shit that goes on in all of our heads. My problem is I get too wrapped up in my own head and think there’s something wrong with me. So when I have a moment to sing, no intrusive thought can touch me.”

    • Burniss Travis II

      The 6 foot, Texas raised musician didn’t actually begin his career with the bass, he started as a violinist at Elementary Culture School. Only after his teacher picked him to play the large upright bass, because he was the tallest guy in the class, did he finally find his true calling. Travis was simultaneously a self-proclaimed hip-hop head who was a huge fan of acts like A Tribe Called Quest and loved the local Houston Chopped & Screwed scene birthed by DJ Screw, and didn’t feel confident about pursuing a career as a bassist. It would take a couple of encounters with vibraphonist Stefon Harris throughout his journey before he considered playing on a professional level. He developed his skills for a bit playing with a local orchestra before entering into the Houston jazz scene, and his career quickly took off from there.
      Now based in Brooklyn, New York, the 23-year-old Travis is back on the live music scene after a year-long hiatus, and is ready to explore a new musical territory. Certainly not one of the gabbiest, and unsure at first exactly what he could offer our session together, it turned out that he actually was flooded with ideas once we got started, as is true with most musicians when given a chance to talk about the thing that they love most. 
    • DJ Jahi Sundance

      What happens when “love isn’t enough?” With his EP, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ Jahi Sundance responds with a collection of break-up anthems that fuse funk and soul with heartbreak and longing, dichotomizing emotional fallout with uncompromising beats, depression with disco. Love is, after all, a paradox. And in these six songs, Sundance gifts us with an up-tempo exploration of the stages of relationship grief, acknowledging what breakthroughs may or may not come from breaking up.

      With over 25 years in the music game, Sundance has created some of the most inventive DJ sets & sounds scapes in the scene today. He has toured with Robert Glasper, Me’shell N’degeocello, Christian McBride, and graced the stage of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Recent producer/writer credits include Chris Brown, Danity Kane, Miguel, Common, and The World Cup.

      Jahi lives in LA where he manages his record label More Than Enough and continues work on multiple projects.

    • Justin Tyson

      Independent gospel drummer Justin Tyson is son of the late organist Craig Tyson and Shawn Tyson's nephew.

      Justin Tyson is a talented and respected up-and-coming musician living in New York City. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan but raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, he started playing the drums at the age of three and from that day on continued to perfect his craft.

      Tyson is a Berklee College of Music alumnus; there his love for the drums and music in general expanded. Justin has played for Jessie J, Estelle, Mos Def, Tyrese, Cubic Zirconia, Sirah, Ryan Leslie and is currently the drummer for Esperanza Spalding and Now vs Now.

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