It would appear that the most successful and prolific authors, filmmakers, and musicians have all been able to master one key aspect within their respective fields of expertise: the mastery of emotions. Their ability to make people fearful, cheerful, inspired, melancholy, and so on, reflects years of experience, trial-and-error, or (in some cases) sheer luck. Authors and filmmakers have the advantage of using or creating emotional states though mental or physical images – no easy feat unto itself, but certainly much easier than evoking the same emotional power without using any words or mental images at all.

Gonzales recently said that his early musical career was a “roller coaster” – presumably it travelled at a high rate of speed, was simultaneously thrilling and scary, with lots of ups and downs (and you had to be strapped in to survive the ride). We recently had a chance to sit down and discuss Gonzales’ early days in his band ‘Son’ with someone who was in the same coaster car – the original drummer from Son – Anthony Michelli. Anthony certainly corroborates the ‘roller-coaster’ metaphor, and reviews from a television appearance at the time indicated that ‘Son’ was “too crazed to even fit in the TV screen.”

In our previous post, we took a close look at half the tracks on Chilly Gonzales’ summer Mixtape – Classical Selections Vol. 1: Piano Music. In Part II, we analyze the rest. The complete mixtape is available here.

By examining the track selections in greater detail, we hope to uncover some of the reasons why Gonzales selected those particular tracks and composers for inclusion in his mixtape.

Mixtapes are a great way of expressing a love for music and at the same time, allowing people to peer into the type of music that drives and inspires entertainers, such as Chilly Gonzales. When Gonzales released Vol.1 of a 3-volume set of classical selections, we weren’t disappointed. Although the set does come with a tracklist, we felt like there was a back-story to the selections that was missing – why these artists, and why these songs? We set out to analyze each track to try and find the elements that Gonzales finds appealing.

This month we celebrate Chilly Gonzales’ World Record breaking performance 4 years ago, when he beat his inner self, played the piano for 27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds and entered the Guinness Book of World Records. In honour of this occasion, we give you an insight into our archives and show you a collection of photos that I took during the event. They may not be examples of great photographic art, but they visualise the special atmosphere and eternalise a concert that wasn’t only legendary because of its length, but because of the inspiration and tacit message it spread.

The Canadian Label “Arts & Crafts” is celebrating their 10-year anniversary by releasing a number of special compilations, the latest of which is about to drop on May 28. Titled “X”, the album features collaborations by Arts & Crafts recording artists – including Chilly Gonzales and Stars, who team up with a killer track called “Nothing Good Comes to Those Who Wait”.

Gonzales’ piano really underscores the song, and Amy Millan’s tonality really pairs well with the overall musical atmosphere.

Toddla T is a 2-hour weekly BBC radio show where the host (Toddla T) generally interviews rappers and hip-hop artists. So what’s a Solo Piano virtuoso doing on the show? As we all know, Gonzales’ harmonies affect all who listen, and Toddla T is a huge fan – especially after attending one of Gonzales’ two sold-out shows at Cadogan Hall in London.

Part of the Toddla T show includes the guests selecting a few of their favourite tracks; in keeping with the show’s overall hip hop sound (i.e. no Berlioz). Gonzales interesting song selections, along with even more interesting explanations as to what in particular interests him within the tracks.

Today marks 188 years since the death of Antonio Salieri, which provides an apropos opportunity to reflect on Salieri’s life and death through (of course) the music of Chilly Gonzales.

Antonio Salieri has certainly been cemented in the minds of the current generation as Mozart’s admiring antagonist, but in reality, Salieri was a highly respected composer and teacher who made great strides in Italian Opera, and influenced his students; Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt among them.

Chilly Gonzales is on everyone’s and especially the cyberpeople’s lips at the moment – thanks to two guys in robot costumes. So it didn’t come as a surprise that prior to his two London concerts last week, Cadogan Hall was filled with whisperings, if he would at least partly play his song from the forthcoming Daft Punk album. He did. And everyone with a Beethoven-esque brain could actually even hear it – with their mind’s ear. Since he only let his fingers silently touch the keys, which was visible for everyone via the giant screens under the rededicated church’s ceiling and stretching from one side of the stage to the other.

Unless you’ve been living in a proverbial cave, you’re probably heard that Daft Punk has soon-to-be-released album (Random Access Memories), and Chilly Gonzales is one of the collaborators! @Daftworld let it slip last December:

Ça fait donc 5 collaborations confirmées pour Daft Punk : Paul Williams, Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder, Nathan East.

— Daftworld (@daftworld) December 8, 2012

His Collaborators video is educational (a Gonzales trademark) and enlightening.