8 Tracks Of Pianos – Lto

With my dad having always been a big fan of jazz, as well as an amateur jazz pianist, I’d heard a lot of it growing up. It was one of the genres that, although I didn’t always enjoy listening to, new deep down I’d get into one day. Of the jazz pianists I’ve paid particular attention to, Bill Evans’ style is one that most resonates with me. I like his expressive, yet controlled, approach and carefully placed dense chord clusters.

Although it’s not particularly ground-breaking music, when I was introduced to Gonzales’s first Solo Piano record, I found it hard to place (For a start, is it Classical or Jazz?) and the only artist I could compare him to was Yann Tierson, who’s Amelie soundtrack I was both listening to and playing at the time. I like hearing new stuff that I can play as well and that was part of the appeal with Gonzales. Carnivalse is a piece I particularly enjoy playing with its finale of effortlessly switching, yet giddying, scalic rollercoasters.

I was given a short Ravel piece (Prelude) to learn by my piano teacher when I was about 15 and wasn’t sure if I liked it as it was more modern sounding than any classical music I’d learnt before, but I soon got into that signature unresolved sound of the impressionist composers. The more minimal side of their output agrees with me the most and Le Gibet, the 2nd movement of Gaspard de la nuit is an example of this with the haunting futurism of its opening 9ths.

I got into Debussy around the same time as Ravel as they sort of go hand-in-hand. This is the most recent piece of his that I’ve spent any serious time on learning. Love the oriental sounding harmony.

I’d heard bits of Chopin here and there but had just bunched him together with the rest of the famous classical composers like Beethoven, Haydn etc., until I watched Polanski’s The Pianist, which provided me an emotional context for his deeply melancholic music.

The stark open intervals in this simple piece, along with its subliminal background drone, create a beautiful dystopian landscape in my head.

I’m a sucker for these emotional/nostalgic/soundtrack kind of piano pieces and make a lot of little tunes like this myself.

I could have linked to his live solo piano version on youtube but it’s partly the intimate close-mic’d recording technique (picking up all the lovely clunky piano mechanics) and subtle use of glockenspiel to add a little sparkle to the high-end, that I love about this track. (Unfortunately we’ve had to use a live version here but check out this version.)

A piano student introduced this to me recently in the context of the Jay Electronica track Better in Tune with the Infinite. The piano has that unmistakable sentimental Sakamoto sound, reminiscent of Miyazaki animations.

There’s also a live piano solo version online but I love the rhythmic support and added emotion those relentless see-sawing strings give.