FESTIVAL MUSIC | Robert Glasper
Top 5 HUB SESSIONS
P H O T O © A L E X A N D R E
I S A R D
CHILLY GONZALES FEAT. KAISER QUARTETT He’s done alt.rock as a member of Son, produced albums for Peaches and Feist and is part of Berlin hip hoppers Puppetmastaz. Here, Gonzales turns his considerable multi-talent to reimagining classical music in accessible and exciting ways, bringing in elements of rap and pop, in a new project with Kaiser Quartett, Chambers. 8 & 9 Aug, 9.30pm, £25. FROM SCOTLAND WITH LOVE: KING CREOSOTE Footage from the Scottish Screen Archive showing the country in its retro, twee, raw glory— Virginia Heath’s documentary takes in love, loss, resistance, migration, work and play, with a soundtrack from Kenny Anderson, aka eclectic indie folk troubadour King Creosote. 14 & 15 Aug, 10.30pm & 9.30pm respectively, £25.
ANNA CALVI AND HERITAGE ORCHESTRA Dark and romantic alt.rock is Anna Calvi’s forte, but teamed with Heritage Orchestra, known for being just as innovative and eclectic as Calvi herself, there’s a different aural aesthetic. The classical leanings of Heritage Orchestra mixed with Calvi’s theatricalities creates an orchestral version of her recent hits. 18–20 Aug, 10.30pm, £25.
ALEXI MURDOCH The Scottish singer-songwriter is a bit enigmatic, having taken up residence among the hip folks of Berlin to trail his musical blaze. Luckily, he’s coming back to show off his multi-talented multi- instrumentalism (as seen on the soundtrack to Sam Mendes’ Away We Go, doncha know?). 27 Aug, 9.30pm, £25. WAVE MOVEMENTS Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry and the National’s Bryce Dessner get together with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for Wave Movements, work composed directly to the rhythms of real waves complementing Hiroshi Sugimoto’s i lm comprising a series of 1980s seascape photos. 28 Aug, 9.15pm, £25. (Kirstyn Smith) ■ Russian Standard Vodka Hub Sessions, The Hub, 473 2000, throughout Aug.
PHOTO © JATI LINDSAY
‘[I want to] loosen up, resuscitate the music, say “hey, it’s 2015, let’s make a jazz album that sounds like 2015”. So that’s why I’m doing ‘I’m Dying of Thirst’ by Kendrick Lamar. That’s why I did songs by Bilal and Musiq Soulchild: this is music from my era. That’s why I said it’s a big slap, because you have to wake it up, hello!’ than simply Glasper does far more tune. While retaining ‘swing’ a pop the melody and feel of the songs, he improvises on them with invention and l air. It’s an exciting new direction for jazz, but one that has brought accusations of selling out. He’s having none of it. ‘It’s all about connection to me. It’s not about selling out. Some people get that mixed up and say, “aw, you do all these songs, you’re trying to cross-over but you’re selling out.” No. Selling out is when you do something that you don’t naturally want to do. I naturally love what I’m doing. I loved R&B years before I even heard my i rst jazz song. For me it’s not selling out, it’s just me tapping into different genres I grew up with, that I love. ‘A lot of old cats can’t move forward and do anything that’s now because it’s not their generation. So they hate on it because they’re comfortable with what they are and see the music’s moving towards something that they’re not personally hip to, or don’t like. You can not like it, that’s i ne. You’re not supposed to like everything I like. I don’t expect my grandmother to like Lil Wayne, you know what I mean? It’s the same thing with jazz. If you’re trying to feed jazz to a 15-year-old, it’s not from their era, so they’re not gonna get that. But guess what? They get me. Why? Because I’m doing something they can actually relate to. I play songs that are recent, that they have actually heard, can understand, and can probably sing along to.’ So in a sense, you’re creating new standards? ‘That’s what it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to create new standards. The more you play songs by your peers, they become standards, you know? Miles Davis played ‘Gingerbread Boy’ ’cos he and Jimmy Heath were cool, you know? That’s how the culture goes. I’m basically doing the same thing, like hey, I’m playin’ my boy’s tune. I just happen to know some of the most talented cats, so it really works out for me!’ Robert Glasper Trio, The Hub, 473 2000, 10 Aug, 10.30pm, £25.
68 THE LIST FESTIVAL 6–13 Aug 2015