Jazz and soul vocalist Bilal

Episode notes

(Photo: Jarrett Wetherell)

Bilal is a vocalist who straddles two worlds. You could call him a rap fan’s favorite jazz singer, having appeared on tracks by the Clipse, Mac Miller, Common, and Kendrick Lamar.

You could also call him a jazz fan’s favorite hip hop singer. When he throws a band together to perform own work, he makes jazz music that, you know, is jazz… but it channels the groundbreaking hip hop production style of Jay Dilla, too.

Earlier this Summer Bilal released Live at Glasshaus (Glasshaus Presents). It’s a live album, with an accompanying concert film. But that description kind of sells the project short. He performed for one night only in front of 100 people. He got together with a star-stubbed band, which included Robert Glasper, Burniss Travis, Questlove and Common. And together they performed a retrospective of music from Bilal’s twenty-three years in music.

Bilal joins us to chat about how his performance at Glasshaus came together. 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.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

Bilal

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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