Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog
The Audiophile Society
Many if not most audiophiles know of David Chesky, either from his co-founding of the pioneering audiophile label Chesky Records in 1986, or later, in launching HDtracks and The Audiophile Society. Perhaps his fame in the world of audiophile recordings overshadows his considerable talents as a musician and composer, and it shouldn’t. When I say “considerable,” I am seriously understating it: He’s an inventive composer who excels in a variety of genres from classical to Latin.
This is on dazzling display on the latest recording from The Audiophile Society, Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog. When I asked David how the album came about, he insisted it was all the dog’s work. Well, he shouldn’t be so modest. Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog is a delightful collection of solo piano pieces that combine the ragtime sensibility of fast tempos, driving left-hand rhythmic work, flurries of sixteenth notes, and an unstoppable sense of swing and drive, with modern tonalities and harmonic and rhythmic concepts. You will not be able to sit still while listening.
Although, you may find yourself riveted by the sound. The piano has a natural tonality, with honest, not unnatural, separation between the left and right sides of the keyboard. I guessed it was a Bösendorfer, not a Steinway, and asked David, who told me, “I wanted a Bösendorfer, but the dog wanted a Steinway, so there you go – it was a Steinway D.”
The dynamics are incredible and realistic – this is a big-sounding piano, with authoritative bass, yet possessing midrange warmth and exceptional upper-register clarity. The instrument, and the recording, has weight and body. The church ambience adds beautifully to the sound of the recording, which is neither too dry nor overly awash in reverb. Perfect, to my taste. Like you’re sitting a few rows away from a world-class piano…and player.
David told me that Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog was recorded with a ribbon mic at a church in Brooklyn, and noted, “I wrote these songs a long time ago and actually made an album of them back in the day. But now that I'm older – and hopefully a little wiser – I wanted to revisit them and make them a bit more refined. The idea was to take the language of ragtime and kick it up a notch, as Emeril would say – to make the harmony more complex, push the rhythms further, but still keep the spirit and fun of ragtime. Art has to reflect time and culture and we live in a more complex time than when ragtime first emerged. They're all reflections of the city I live in and love: New York. Fast, crazy, chilled!”
The mood of the album and many of the pieces reflects the lives of frenzied, impatient New Yorkers, and the titles are certainly evocative of that energized Big Apple atmosphere: “The New Yorker” has me picturing no-nonsense men and women rushing to work, maybe stopping for a bagel and coffee, as do pieces like “The Bernstein” and “Grand Central Morning.” “Seventh Avenue” slows things down a bit; a musical stroll down one of Manhattan’s main drags. “The Duke” would certainly be something the Duke would enjoy listening to and asking his band to play.
“Broadway Boogie Woogie” builds off a standard left-hand boogie woogie pattern to go off into musical territory that Scott Joplin would never have been able to conceive of…melodic, yet maybe with a touch of the avant garde. Make no mistake: the music on Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog, though going off on adventurous side streets, remains rooted in melody. You will not hear atonal music here (though “The J Walker Rag” has some dissonant passages). David has deep roots in classical, jazz, and Latin, and can evoke everything from rushing for a subway train to window shopping on the moderately-paced “Fifth Avenue.” When I hear his “Penn Station,” I can picture a fast-motion sequence of harried commuters, me often having been one of them.
Did I mention that David’s dog is one hell of a piano player! Well, David insisted on giving him all the credit. Seriously, David Chesky is virtuosic here, whether playing at breakneck tempos like “The Coney Island Rag” that would break a lesser pianist, or weaving two-handed counterpoint, hitting block chords with beautiful jazz voicings, or just landing on a note and letting it sing. He makes it all sound effortless, even when some of the relentless tempos sound more like they were written for or even played by a sequencer or a player piano. (He really likes those brisk tempos and descending right-hand melodic sequences.) Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog is just great fun to listen to.
For a limited time, Copper readers can download Rags for Solo Piano and a Dog at a 25 percent discount by using the code COPPER25. Click on this link to get the album.
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