Chilly Gonzales Featuring Kaiser Quartett, Edinburgh
Solo piano is a place for a musician to let their guard down. When Andrew WK dropped the facade of his powerhouse party rock, he conveyed another side of his musicianship with a minimal and lovely record called 55 Cadillac. In the early 2000s, Gonzales, a contemporary of Peaches on a hip Canadian-expat Berlin club scene, was a specialist in hip-hop, who styled himself as the “worst MC”. Of late, however, he has found a less ironic role for his talents as a player of exquisite solo piano. The playing itself should come as no particular surprise; Gonzales is a classically trained musician. More impressive is the original space he has found between atmosphere and tunes: his mix of George Winston’s New Age folk, Steve Reich system, and Vince Guaraldi jauntiness is delightful.
The Hub, Sat & Sun
JR
Buffy Sainte-Marie, London
Even if you don’t immediately know her name, you will certainly know Buffy Sainte-Marie’s songs. From the folk revival anthem Universal Soldier (covered to some considerable success by Donovan) to Up Where We Belong (from the 1982 movie An Officer And A Gentleman), to the educational tunes she performed on Sesame Street, Sainte-Marie has a song for every occasion. It speaks to her talents that this may mean rousing a world from apathy, providing an emotional power ballad or cheering up a large yellow bird. An artist who grew up on a similar circuit – and in a similar idiom – to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, Sainte-Marie asks you to imagine a third way between them. A composer of huge talent like the former, and an educator and campaigner of conviction like the latter, her work has often been focused on campaigning for the rights of Native American people, but she now has a new album, Power In The Blood, too.
Brooklyn Bowl, SE10, Thu
JR
Trembling Bells, On tour
The project of a singer with an early music background and a free drummer, Trembling Bells were never going to be shy of trying new things. From a strong start in folk-rock, the band has flourished in collaboration with the likes of Bonnie “Prince” Billy, dabbled in indie, and arrived somewhere a little more unpredictable again. They currently sound like a cross between Fairport Convention, Broadcast and Deep Purple; progressive, in the very best sense of the word.
Supernormal festival, Wallingford, Sat; Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, Sun; The Musician, Leicester, Mon; The Basement, City Screen, York, Tue; The Continental, Preston, Wed; The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle, Thu; The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, Fri
JR
Tor Ist Das! Todmorden
An unlikely venue for one of the micro-festivals of the season, Tor Ist Das! takes place in a church and local pub in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Heads up for all black metal and industrial fans: the festival is hosting a one-off set by a trio comprising Nurse With Wound/Current 93 member Andrew Liles, with black metal group Mayhem’s vocalist Maniac and thrash drummer Carl Stokes of Cancer (15 Aug), which is unlikely to happen on these shores again anytime soon. Softer sounds come from Isnaj Dui (AKA Katie English) playing looped flute and found sounds (15 Aug), and the deep drones of Belgian Glen Steenkiste (of Sylvester Anfang II) as Hellvete (16 Aug), plus self-described “coastal slurtronic folk” musician Kemper Norton (15 Aug). Richard Dawson headlines the Sunday, and early arrivals get to join a pub quiz on the Friday night.
Todmorden Unitarian Church and Golden Lion, Fri to 16 Aug
JA
Robert Glasper Trio, On tour
Robert Glasper once memorably called jazz his “jealous ex-girlfriend”, and when he won a Grammy in the R&B category for his Black Radio album two years ago, it seemed like the eclectic, witty and casually virtuosic Texan genre-buster’s departure from the jazz loop that spawned him was complete. But Glasper has never wanted to dump jazz, only detach it and its traditional audiences from old habits. On this tour, Glasper shows just how inventively he has managed that. With his 2015 album Covered, he revisited his early piano trio (with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid), interpreting songs by Radiohead, Musiq Soulchild and John Legend, injecting a little politics, and even imparting a Bill Evans-like classical grace to the 1940s standard-song Stella By Starlight.
Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, Sat; Market Hall, Brecon, Sun; The Hub, Edinburgh, Mon; Ronnie Scott’s, W1, Wed to Fri
JF
The Last Hotel, Edinburgh
Unmissable musical events are thin on the ground at this year’s Edinburgh international festival, and significant new music is thinner still. But the premiere of this opera by Donnacha Dennehy, who has recently emerged as the most important Irish composer since Gerald Barry, is a coup for the festival. The Last Hotel has a text by playwright Enda Walsh, who also directs. It’s a distinctly downbeat tale of an English couple who encounter an Irish woman in a hotel bar and find their lives gradually entangling with hers. But it’s how Dennehy can shape his sometimes wonderfully rich and allusively multi-layered music to the dramatic imperatives of opera that makes the premiere so intriguing. Vocal works have become increasingly prominent in his output in the last few years but now there will be a theatrical dimension, too; a different challenge altogether.
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Sat to Wed
AC
