The last time I saw André 3000, we were shooting the breeze about greyhounds.
It was London 2006 during Outkast's promo blitz for their Idlewild film and album and the conversation had meandered from Big Boi’s pitbull hustle to another breed of dog.
That night ended with the lads taking to the London Eye with a bottle of absinthe*, but that’s a story for another time.
It’s been a dog of a day weather wise in Belgium before André and band take to the stage of the massive tent at the Gent Jazz Festival. Like so many Irishmen, it turns out that I’m spending July 12th watching someone play the flute.
André’s immersion in the instrument has been full-on. The stories of him wandering the streets of LA playing away are now beyond urban legends and the album he put out last year, New Blue Sun, remains the sort of pivot only someone like André 3000 could oversee.
It’s hard to imagine other heavyweight rap champs engaging in such a manoeuvre.
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That album’s colour card of tones and textures provides the guideropes for this performance. The key words are ambience and improvisation rather than ‘shake it like a Polaroid picture’. The directions are towards Windham Hill by way of Pharoah Sanders and you’re more than happy to tag along for the ramble.
The band - Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, and Deantoni Parks - have the virtuoso chops to give some weight and ballast to André’s enthusiastic explorations out front. Occasionally it goes a little off-key, but there’s little panic or wigging out. Many flutes make light work of things.
*Always drink responsibly
