“House With Four Chimneys”
(Composed and performed by Reynold D. Philipsek 2015 copyright Zino-Rephi Music BMI)
Recorded by Stymie Seamans
Video by Rene Erickson
This piece has Erik Satie (1866-1925) in mind. Satie lived outside Paris in Arcueil. He had a small apartment in a building there (still extant). That building was called “the house with four chimneys”. Satie walked 6.7 miles to central Paris and back almost daily to meet with friends at cafes. Satie cut a striking figure as he was always well dressed including a bowler hat. Satie’s music was lean and harmonically advanced which influenced Ravel and Debussy.
Yes, the harmonic changes I use here are closely related to John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” and the melody is an obvious homage to Satie’s “Gymnopedie”. (But, importantly, Coltrane seems to have largely taken the harmonic/melodic idea from Maurice Ravel’s “Ondine” except that Coltrane replaced Ravel’s minor chords with their relative major. The similarity is striking and many musicologists have mentioned this. Ravel’s piece was composed about 50 years earlier than “Giant Steps”.)
So, there is yet one more “French connection”. So to speak.
Be safe.
Be kind.
Love,
Reyn