Chilly Gonzales – The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales

“It’s entertainment but if you listen the genius is in the arrangements,” our virtuoso pianist and aspiring rapper takes to critiquing himself on the typically bumptious Self-Portrait. The Unspeakable… plays out as Gonzales’ own ‘professional confessional’ and in turn the oddity that is the world’s first ever all-orchestral rap album actually isn’t so perplexing; in truth it’s a logical and characteristically dramatic progression for the lauded nonconformist.

Musically, it’s typically theatrical and showy but always concise, woven together by the brazen monologues Gonzales revels in. Whether he’s embracing capitalism unashamedly on Beans (“It sure takes a lot of beans to make Chilly, if money talks I could never play Mr. Bean) or confronting the pressure of following up his biggest seller Solo Piano (“imagine if I tossed it off, imagine if the cock was soft"), he confuses and delights at every turn. A master of all trades.