Dinner Party
Whatchu Bringing?
EMPIRE
When Terrace Martin asked Robert Glasper why he wanted to name their jazz-forward collective Dinner Party, Glasper’s answer was simple: “because everybody’s invited to the dinner party,” he told us back in 2020 when the outfit formed. The group—whose core four consist of Martin and Glasper along with Kamasi Washington and 9th Wonder—has always seen their music as a vessel for conversation, community, and love. The Dinner Party is for the people. Come on out, feel the love, and be fed by great jazz in the company of great people.
With community comes a sense of responsibility, however, and on their third album that means answering the titular question posed by Martin and company: what are you bringing? A potluck abounds with saxophone licks, well-seasoned drum loops, and a healthy pour of Dinner Party regular Phoelix’s vocals on Whatchu Bringing?, a full-course dinner as lean as it is filling. Poet J. Ivy opens the door for you over a sweltering, sax-driven soundscape on “Stop Being Late,” mimicking the balmy summer breeze. Ivy ribs you for showing up empty-handed as you debate whether to run down to the corner store and snag a bottle or some chips for the occasion until he claps you on the back and lets you know “your love is whatchu bringing.”
If Ivy’s command of the space and whiskey-smooth baritone failed to settle any nerves you may have carried into this gathering, the first three seconds of “If It Ain’t Broke (Love Wins)” is sure to fix that. After the chatter of the intro settles down, Glasper strikes up a brief chord progression on the keys to ring in the potluck. You take a seat on the floral-print couch in the living room as Phoelix begins to croon about letting alone what’s not broken in his silky falsetto. Very nearly an official host for the occasion, the Chicago-based singer graces every track but the first and the last on Whatchu Bringing?
With Phoelix giving his falsetto a break in exchange for some full-throated tenor, the party moves to the moonlit backyard for some late-night contemplation. “Stargazing” leans into the funkier side of things, enlisting former Vanguard member Isaiah Sharkey to lay down some nose-curling guitar licks amid the keys and sax. Shortly afterward, “Breakfast at Sharkey’s” doubles down, pouring a grand taste of the funk the master guitarist has brought as his potluck contribution.
When you eventually get up to leave for the evening, J. Ivy’s words upon your arrival remain at the front of your mind. For community to do what it does best, it needs love, first and foremost. Dinner Party is four of the greatest musical minds of the 21st century insisting that you always have a place; Whatchu Bringing? reminds you that love is the only thing you need to bring with you.
