Despite a six-decade track record as jazz's most influential record label, Blue Note took a conservative turn, recruiting established pop and jazz players such as Van Morrison and Wynton Marsalis. Until last year, that is, when a brilliant pianist and composer from Houston, Robert Glasper, became the first young instrumentalist signed to Blue Note in five years.

``It was amazing, like I'm the chosen one. And then it was like, `Damn! I'm the chosen one,' '' says Glasper, 27, who makes his Bay Area debut as an ensemble leader in San Francisco on Sunday as part of the SFJazz spring season, followed by a Monday show in Santa Cruz.

``All the masters have been on Blue Note, and it's definitely a little bit of pressure,'' he continues over the phone from his apartment in Manhattan. ``The little voice inside me is like, `You have to be good. What is this song you're writing? This sucks!' But I'm plowing through it.''

To judge by his first Blue Note release, ``Canvas,'' Glasper is an apt choice to carry the label's banner. He's thoroughly steeped in jazz's progressive mainstream, a confident composer and subtle improviser with a knack for developing crafty lines that go in unanticipated directions.

More impressive than his original material is the way Glasper's trio is rapidly developing its own sound. The band features drummer Damion Reid and bassist Vicente Archer (who will be replaced by Alan Hampton in these California shows). Glasper and Reid first played together when the Los Angeles drummer was checking out the New School in New York City, where Glasper was studying. But they really forged a relationship when Glasper visited L.A. for a gig, and Reid called veteran bassist Bob Hurst, whom he had never met, and invited himself over to play. ``He said, `My name is Damion, and my boy Robert Glasper plays piano,' '' Glasper recounts. `` `I was wondering if you wanted to do a session when he's in town.' Bob said, `Sure, come to the crib.' ''

Hurst was so impressed that, on their next trip to L.A., he invited them over and recorded the album ``Unrehurst'' in his living room. The trio reunited on Glasper's first CD, ``Mood,'' on the Spanish label Fresh Sound. Glasper also made a name for himself through his work with guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and rappers Q-Tip and Mos Def. Although there isn't a strong hip-hop feel on ``Canvas,'' the pianist also leads the Robert Glasper Experiment, an electric band that draws on contemporary grooves.

``It's like my generation's Headhunters,'' Glasper says, referring to Herbie Hancock's hugely popular funk-fusion band of the early 1970s, ``but we put a lot of hip-hop influence into it. A lot of people consciously say, `Now I'm going to fuse rock and jazz on this song,' but I came up as a mutt, and my writing's naturally fused already.''

The vast range of Glasper's influences isn't surprising, given that he was weaned on music. His mother, Kim Yvette Glasper, who was killed in a double homicide with Glasper's stepfather in April 2004, was a Houston institution, a pianist and vocalist who led a soul band and played jazz gigs regularly. She was also music director at the East Wind Baptist Church, which is where Glasper started performing in public. ``At first I only knew how to play one song,'' Glasper says, ``so the way they paid me was to pay for my piano lessons.''

He started accompanying his mother in his early teens, and co-wrote many of the gospel tunes that she recorded on two albums for Born Again Records. It was a pianist who worked with his mother who really sparked the young Glasper's interest in jazz, showing him interesting voicings. And when it came time for him to audition for Houston's highly competitive High School of the Performing Arts (which also produced keyboardist Jason Moran), this pianist taught him the ``Spider-Man'' theme.

``He showed me how to play it in a minor blues, and I used that for my high school audition,'' Glasper says. ``So you could say `Spider-Man's' been a big part of my life.''The Robert Glasper Trio

Where: Florence Gould Theatre, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park and 34th Avenue, San Francisco

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $25

Call: (415) 788-7353, or see www.sfjazz.org

Also: 7 p.m. Monday, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz, $20, $23, (831) 427-2227, www.kuumbwajazz.org