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Robert Gluck

Bob Gluck is an expressive pianist joining lyricism and abstraction, and an innovator in the use of electronics.

About Me

Bob Gluck is a pianist, composer, and writer whose repertoire spans jazz and electroacoustic music. Karl Ackermann (All About Jazz) wrote: “As a composer and player, Gluck ranks with the likes of Andrew Hill and Cecil Taylor.” Ackermann describes Gluck's latest recording, “And Every Fleck of Russet” as “an exceptional musical and technical achievement…” Jazz Review describes his recording “Returning” (FMR, 2011) as displaying “an intensity and sensitivity that is spellbinding.” The New York City Jazz Record notes finds in his ”Infinite Spirit: Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band” (FRM, 2016) - recorded with with Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, and Christopher Dean Sullivan - “moments of pure poetry and ecstasy from all members of the quartet. Like Hancock, Gluck is a master of electronics, as well as a talented acoustic jazz pianist… a fresh and personal imprint on complex music and propelling it into the present day.”

Gluck's third book from University of Chicago Press, “Pat Metheny: Stories Beyond Words” will be released in Fall 2024. It is the successor to “You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band” (2012), and “The Miles Davis ‘Lost’ Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles” (2016). ”The Musical World of Paul Winter” (Intelligent Arts ebook) was released in 2019.

The latest of Gluck's eleven recordings, the solo keyboard album “And every fleck of russet” (Electricsongs, 2024) was preceded in 2020 by “Early Morning Star” (FMR, with Andrea Wolper, Kinan Azmeh, Ken Filiano, and Tani Tabbal). He has also released three sets of duets, with, respectively, drummer Tani Tabbal (”At This Time: Duets,” 2017), saxophonist Andrew Sterman (”Tropelets,” 2014), and fellow pianist Aruan Ortiz (”Textures and Pulsations,” 2012), on Ictus Records.

Bob Gluck’s collaborators have included Tani Tabbal, Billy Hart, Christopher Dean Sullivan, Ken Filiano, Joe Giardullo, Eddie Henderson, Ras Moshe Burnett, Aruan Ortiz, Neil Rolnick, Dean Sharp, Andrew Sterman, Eddie Allen, Michael Bisio, and Jane Ira Bloom. He is Professor Emeritus at The University at Albany. For more info, see: http://www.electricsongs.com

My Jazz Story

The first jazz show I ever attended was the Herbie Hancock Sextet, when I was 15. I had just left the Julliard Preparatory Division, having recently heard Jimi Hendrix for the first time. I was in search of new musical horizons and its been a fascinating journey from that point onward.