Chilly Gonzales

Roundhouse, London | 29 July

Chilly Gonzales has always wanted to stand out, to be different. Hence the requirement of his pseudonym, slippers, smoking jacket and haughty demeanour at The Roundhouse last Tuesday. The thing is, he’s quite the talent to behold – especially live – so much so you can forgive the 42-year-old Canadian’s idiosyncrasies and gambols into left-field pretension.

A classically-trained virtuoso pianist, born Jason Charles Beck, he has nudged the limits of the instrument – perhaps though boredom or creative curiosity – and has recently played alongside Daft Punk and Drake.

Two superb albums focusing on the tool his has mastered – Solo Piano (2004) and Solo Piano II (2012) – are high notes of an oeuvre which includes more bizarre experiments with hip-hop and electro such as Gonzales Über Alles (2000), Ivory Tower (2010) and Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales (2011) which is quite possibly the first all-orchestral rap album (and there was also a Guinness World Record attempt, too).

Happily the Cologne-based maestro appears to have resettled and refocused his efforts on the instrument he began teaching himself at the age of three, after elder brother Charles began lessons. And his Masterclass – presented in Pianovision, in a rare outing in London, showcased his skill as both pianist and tutor.

He now enjoys playing the pure artist, apparently shunning commercial success, and compares himself to other master draftsmen. “I write for myself, like Woody Allen,” he says at one point in the concert. “I try to be original, not a photocopy.”

Gonzales kicks off with some of his more successful, recognisable tunes from Solo Piano I and II, which have a cinematic quality, such is the emotive chords they strike. Immediately, after he has taken his place on the stool, we are presented with an overhead black-and-white close-up camera shot of his hands on the piano, on a huge scale above the stage.

This is Pianovision, he later explains, and it serves to highlight his digital dexterity, teach would-be pupils (all of us, supposedly – this is billed as a lecture-tutorial, after all). Hunched over the piano, Gonzales plays to the packed Roundhouse, and we watch, captivated, as his rather withered fingers dance atop the keys. Three tracks in he wheels round the microphone to begin class in earnest. This is his latest incarnation (or rather reincarnation): the role of professor.

On his website the only thing you can see on his homepage is a hard sell for Re-Introduction Etudes, a book possessing “24 easy-to-master, fun-to-play piano pieces”. There are even tutorial videos. Onstage at the Roundhouse he attempts to waft away his self-aggrandised grandeur, and says: “This is technically a kind of masterclass, but I am uncomfortable about that; the piano is dope and interesting.”

Gonzales helpfully shows the “building blocks” of the instrument, fuses the conversation with playful anecdotes, and champions invention. “With so little imagination you get a sense of why music is bare bones, but sonically unlimited.”

We are shown piano tricks – including octave jumps, rubato, tremolo and arpeggio  – before he welcomes on stage 13-year-old Joe Cardona, a talented teen who wrote to Gonzales, his idol.

They play together, having never before met, to emphasise how simple it is to make music with an inventive mind and nimble fingers. Cardona is then invited to play his own melody – “Lose the Wagnerian precociousness: is it going to funky-ass, or stinky-ass music?” – to which Gonzales improvises, impressively (including some beatboxing).

There is then a rap interlude, before fellow pianist James Rhodes takes to the stage, alone, and later Belgian student Maude has a lesson before us. There are bongos, too, and various other soundbites, “techno polka” being one.

A rap ends proceedings, and after an impressive two-hours Gonzales waves a final adieu, bring to a close an odd-ball, but compelling concert. Talented: certainly. Different: yes, and all the more entertaining for it.

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Words: Oliver Pickup

Photography: Joe Cadona