Lupe on the far left, Glasper on the far right, yo momma in the middle. Pic by Jozen.

​Robert Glasper Experiment featuring Lupe Fiasco
Blue Note
Friday, February 25

Better Than: A re-run of Wilmer Valderrama's Yo Momma

So I picked the wrong night to see the Robert Glasper Experiment at the Blue Note. Not to say the show I attended wasn't fantastic, but alas, the very next night, during the adventurous jazz band's last set with a rejuvenated Lupe Fiasco, a couple surprise guests showed up: Mos Def and Kanye West. I know, I already cried about it. It sucks. I'm still kind of pissed. But there's no sense dwelling on it: As Kanye once put it, "I don't need all the jazz." Instead, I'd rather talk about the jazz (and hip-hop!) I actually did see.

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Still capable of defecating on your microphone, surprisingly. Pics by Santiago Felipe, more below.

​Lauryn Hill
The Blue Note
Monday, January 3

Better Than: You had any right to expect

The bad news always comes first with Lauryn Hill. And so. Initial advertised start time: 8 p.m. Revised start time as of this evening: 11. Mood at 10:05: anxious. (Two different Blue Note folks use the words "hopefully," "start," and "eleven" in a sentence while I'm taking off my coat.) PA announcement at 11:05: "Lauryn will be on really soon." ("Is that five minutes or less?" someone shouts; "10 minutes?" comes the answer.) 11:23: a DJ shows up to "set a nice mystical mood." (Which involves lots of Bob Marley.) 11:42: the band appears, crowding the tiny stage, and starts idly vamping. 11:50: The couple next to me, who I learn have been sitting there since 7:15, leaves in disgust, explaining that they have a train to catch, the male half noting diplomatically that "That's how Lauryn is." 11:57: Lauryn steps onstage. I feel terrible for those poor people who left, both because they missed the show, and because the show itself was actually fantastic.

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​Here comes Lauryn Hill again, everyone -- after gracing us with her presence at August's Rock the Bells retro hip-hop spectacular at Governors Island (which was either a total disaster or a fount of "majestic retro-future space-metal," depending on your inclinations), she's suddenly playing a mess of NYC dates in the next several weeks -- to her gigs Dec. 28 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Jan. 1 at Bowery Ballroom, you can now add three dates at an even more intimate venue.

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Frisell doing "Shenandoah." Totally badass.

Bill Frisell/Ron Carter/Paul Motian
Blue Note
Wednesday, January 7

Second show I've been to in 24 hours that prominently featured "You Are My Sunshine"; no offense to Glasvegas, but declarations of love are generally more appealing when they're sweetly, softly hesitant rather than bombastic and overwrought. So Frisell's guitar, Carter's bass, and Motian's drums all stutter and stammer a bit, fumbling for exactly the right tone until it dawns on you that a tone of expert, conspiratorial fumbling is exactly the right tone.

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