8 Tracks: Piano Music With Gareth Sager

Music

It's a bit of an honour to be able to welcome such a prolific figure to our series on site. Sincerely, Gareth Sager has had more influence on Ransom Note and the music we feature than most. As a member of The Pop Group during the seventies he actively helped pioneer and inspire the post punk movement. This led to infamous releases on the likes of Radar Records and Rough Trade.

Many years later Gareth Sager is still very much musically inclined. This year marked the release of a new solo album, a contemporary assortment of classical piano works released on Freaks R Us, the same label which has been responsible for reissuing much of The Pop Group's work. Titled '88 Tuned Dreams' the album is a truly evolutionary piece of music, reflective of a new time in Gareth's life.

He selects eight tracks of piano music which have inspired below:

Buy the release HERE.

LISTEN

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

Corny as hell I know but when I learnt this as a kid, making it sound vaguely listenable felt good. There is so much great Beethoven, he is the mastercrafter. When so called classical music was in its golden age. There is a lot to learn here. Mind you, my version finished in about three minutes like all good pop songs should.

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

Corny as hell I know but when I learnt this as a kid, making it sound vaguely listenable felt good. There is so much great Beethoven, he is the mastercrafter. When so called classical music was in its golden age. There is a lot to learn here. Mind you, my version finished in about three minutes like all good pop songs should.
Hurry On Down: Nellie Lutcher

Nina Simone would be the more honest choice as a long standing influence in her playing but I think I heard the terrific joyful, light touch sound of Nellie first. My friend Bella Freud (the very same fashion designer) used to always have Nellie’s music playing in her flat so I thank her for turning me on to this.
Bill Evans - Danny Boy

I chose this version of the very maudlin tune ‘Danny Boy’ but really anything by Bill is great. Like most people I first heard his delicate sound on ‘Kind of Blue’ which Miles Davis is quoted as saying ‘I planned that album around the piano playing of Bill Evans’. Not only was Bill the catalyst but also the composer of much of the material on ‘Kind of Blue’…now that is cool!
American Masters John Cage- I Have Nothing To Say And I Am Saying It

Well I have learnt there is nothing to say about this.
Erik Satie: Gnossienne Nº 3 - Reinbert De Leeuw

Satie was a big early influence on John Cage. This is the most obvious choice for me. However I really didn’t stumble upon Satie when I was learning to play. I had learnt simple piano compositions by

Bach, Mozart, Chopin etc but when I was given this piece to play, it totally resonated like nothing else. I was 16 and today I can’t really explain it but it is like those amazing moments when you know you are simpatico with a place, a person, a piece of music.
Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro

The power of rhythm and melody in this guy’s music can be overpowering. I have only seen him live once and that was enough. His South African rhythms can be the definition of playing the piano like a drum but his melodies are so beautiful. The whole thing gels in the most natural sense. This is a force of nature
Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)

I love his Asylum Years records; Small Change, Foreign Affair. These feature his piano playing greatly. Many may say it’s a sort of 70s take on Louis Armstrong via the Brill Building song writing days but Tom plays the piano totally beautifully in his own way as accompaniment to his vocals but also as partner to his voice. I saw him at the Palladium in 1978 but I think ‘76 at Ronnie Scots would have been the bollocks!
Thelonious Monk-Well, You Needn't

I can relate to Monk in that he literally cannot play the obvious, or the same thing exactly the same way twice. The guy is always in the moment. I have seen his stuff written down and I am a poor sight reader but whoever has transcribed the music has just gone for a general sense of the notes as Monk has these really strong themes but then always goes off at a tangent, henceforth never predictable. That’s what jazz should be.