CHILLY GONZALES – SOLO PIANO III [GENTLE THREAT]

This week’s Morning Mari* album of the week is Chilly Gonzales – Solo Piano III, out on the 7th of September, 2018 on Gentle Threat.

Chilly Gonzales, Grammy-winning Canadian pianist and entertainer currently living in Europe, is known as much for the intimate piano touch of best-selling albums Solo Piano and Solo Piano II as for his showmanship and composition for award-winning stars. “Gonzo”, as he is known to close collaborators, aims to be a man of his time, approaching the piano with classical and jazz training but with the attitude of a rapper.

After Solo Piano (2004) and Solo Piano II (2012), Solo Piano III completes the trilogy. Like any final act, there are complications and consequences, followed by an urgent race to the finish line. Like its predecessors, it’s a mostly happy ending in C major, but there is more dissonance, tension and ambiguity along the way.

Having collaborated with lots of different artist from various genres, he dedicated each song to one of his collaborators. The collaborations continue (Room 29 with Jarvis Cocker, Ibeyi, Toddla T … ) but Chilly Gonzales doesn’t need to please anyone anymore. Now, he will leave in the wrong notes. Mysterious chords and surprising structures become addictive, until they sound inevitable. The Gonzervatory music school graduated its first class and the teacher has become a perpetual student again, unafraid to let the music speak for itself.

Following the release, 2018 also sees the cinema release of Shut Up and Play the Piano, a career retrospective documentary directed by Philipp Jedicke that premiered at the A-list Berlinale Film festival.

The musical purity of Solo Piano III is not an antidote for our times, it is a reflection of all the beauty and ugliness around us.

Tracklist:

01. Treppen, dedicated to Rudolf Steiner
02. Pretenderness, dedicated to Fanny Mendelssohn
03. Prelude In C Sharp Major, dedicated to Wendy Carlos
04. Famous Hungarians, dedicated to Ernő Rubik
05. Chico, dedicated to Eric Andre
06. Nimbus, dedicated to Amelia Earhart
07. Be Natural, dedicated to Beach House
08. Ellis Eye, dedicated to Migos
09. Present Tense, dedicated to Thomas Bangalter
10. Cactus Impromptu, dedicated to Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
11. Lost Ostinato, dedicated to Hildegard Von Bingen
12. Blizzard In B Flat Minor, dedicated to Conchita Cintrón
13. October 3rd, dedicated to Jason Beck
14. Kopfkino, dedicated to Nadia Comăneci
15. Whist, dedicated to Bernard Moitessier

Composed and Performed by Chilly Gonzales at the Piano
Produced and Mixed by Renaud Letang
Recorded at Marweg Studio (Köln) / Mixed at Studio Ferber (Paris)
Art Direction and Illustration by Nina Rhode
Album released and published by Gentle Threat Ltd.

Worldwide FM celebrates the annual Piano Day on the 88th day of the year, which represents the number of the keys on a piano. You can find this year’s Piano Day special here.