Next week, cellist, singer, composer, improviser and Beloit College alumna Helen Gillet comes to the college for a solo concert. Downbeat Magazine recently named her a “rising star."
Cellist Helen Gillet understands that her music might be hard to pigeonhole. Gillet was born in Belgium, spent nine years at a French school in Singapore, lived in the Chicago suburbs, then Wisconsin, where she got a bachelor’s degree in cello from Beloit College. Eventually, she ended up in New Orleans, where she completed a master’s degree, and she’s been living there and working steadily ever since. Gillet says it’s all contributed to her sound.
“I’ve played as a side musician and a studio musician for country-rock, jazz, funk, pop - everything from Maryanne Faithful to, you know, Dr. John records. And I’ve assimilated all that into music that resonates with me. I’m a French speaker and an English speaker. American mother, father was from Belgium. So, because of that I synthesize the French music and American music as well into my songwriting.”
That synthesis includes French chansons – French cabaret songs - from the 1950s and one of her other abiding loves, avant-garde jazz and its tradition of free improvisation. Gillet has formed bands and partnerships and released albums devoted to both. Put it all together with her side work, and a youthful devotion to Prince, and what do you get in her solo show?
“I want it to be danceable at times. I like creating a funky backbeat with the cello that makes people move around. I enjoy that. I live in New Orleans. People dance, people move, and I like making people move. I also am emoting a very dramatic sort of theatrical French chanson sort of idiom. So I’m trying to emulate the drama of the song with the ‘cello.”
Gillet says in just the last couple of years, she’s finally developed her influences into a distinctive voice. How she presents that voice in her latest album, ‘Bangkok Silver,’ and especially on stage, is a union of artistry and technology.
“I’m a live looper, which means don’t come with pre-recorded beats. I sample my cello live with the audience and I sing songs on top of them. So basically, I feel like I’m painting and creating my songs live with an audience. And I really enjoy that interaction. It keeps my spirit of improvisation going.”
Gillet says she continues to perform with her French chanson band, and will continue the other collaborations she’s found so inspiring. But right now, she says, she is excited to see where her solo path will lead.
Helen Gillet performs Wednesday, March 25, at 7:30pm in Beloit College's Eaton Chapel.
