Robtober's last lap: Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge and Chris Dave at the Blue Note

With a week left in his October residency on West 3rd Street, Robert Glasper brings his longtime rhythm section in for Wednesday's two sets.

By the last week of October, the line on West 3rd Street has a routine to it. Since October 1, Robert Glasper has treated the Blue Note as his second living room, and this Wednesday, October 28, he settles back in with two of the players he's leaned on longest: bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer Chris "Daddy" Dave.

The Blue Note lists the night as Robert Glasper feat. Derrick Hodge & Chris Dave, with two sets: 8:00 PM (doors 6:00) and 10:30 PM (doors 10:00). Tickets go through the club's own site. That trio of names is the spine of a lot of what people love about Glasper, the chemistry that bends a jazz trio toward hip-hop and R&B without ever feeling like a gimmick.

Wednesday falls inside Robtober, Glasper's annual month-long takeover of the club, which this year runs October 1 through November 1. The idea is simple and a little audacious: one artist, one room, a different configuration nearly every night. As Spin laid out when the schedule dropped, this year's run has rotated through a guest list that includes Wyclef Jean, Lalah Hathaway, Questlove, Kem, Terrace Martin, Bilal and Phoelix, alongside Hodge and Dave.

Some of the month's big nights are already behind us. Glasper did a duo with Lalah Hathaway on October 11, helped celebrate Blue Note New York's 45th anniversary on October 14, ran his acoustic piano trio October 15–18, and paired up with Questlove, with Bilal as special guest, on October 21. What's left is the closing stretch: the club lists more dates on October 29 and 30, a Halloween show on the 31st and a finale on November 1.

One artist, one room, a different configuration nearly every night.

If you've only heard Glasper on record, the residency is the best argument for seeing him in person. The Black Radio albums made his name with a wider audience, but the Blue Note nights are where the material stretches out, where a standard turns into a slow-motion J Dilla groove and back again. The residency has turned into a record of its own, too: a 2xLP called Keys to the City Volume One, described as captured live during Robtober with guests including Black Thought, Norah Jones and Thundercat, came out on vinyl in January.

Glasper has played New York more than anywhere else in our records, and Robtober is a big part of why. It's become one of those fixtures that marks the calendar for a certain kind of New York music fan. People plan around it. They come back three, four times in a month to catch different line-ups.

The Hodge-and-Dave night is the one to pick if you want the core of it. No marquee cameo to wait for, just three musicians who know each other's instincts and a small room that rewards paying attention.

Robtober ends Sunday. After that the line on West 3rd goes back to normal, and you wait another eleven months.

Sources: Blue Note New York — Robert Glasper feat. Derrick Hodge & Chris Dave (bluenotejazz.com); Blue Note New York — Robtober (bluenotejazz.com); Blue Note New York — Robert Glasper X Bilal (bluenotejazz.com); Spin — Robert Glasper Robtober 2026 (spinmagazine.com); Shuga Records — Robert Glasper, Keys to the City Volume One 2xLP (shugarecords.com)