| Blues on Bach | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1974 | |||
| Recorded | November 26–27, 1973 | |||
| Studio | Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 41:27 | |||
| Label | Atlantic QD 1652 | |||
| Producer | Nesuhi Ertegun | |||
| Modern Jazz Quartet chronology | ||||
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| Milt Jackson chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |  [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [3] |
Blues on Bach is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded in 1973 and released on the Atlantic label.[4] The album includes five John Lewis arrangements of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, interspersed with four original blues pieces "on" [the name] "Bach"—in keys (and with titles) that spell out in order the name B-A-C-H.
The five pieces arranged from Bach originals are: "Regret?" from chorale prelude "The Old Year Has Now Passed Away"; "Rise Up in the Morning" from the 140th cantata "Sleepers Wake"; "Precious Joy" from the 147th cantata "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"; "Don't Stop This Train" from the fugue by Johann Peter Kellner BWV Anh. 180 wrongly attributed to Bach;[5] and "Tears from the Children" from the Prelude 8 in E-flat minor from Book I of "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
For the four blues pieces, the "spelling" of the titles follows the system Bach and his German contemporaries used, in which the letter B indicates B-flat, and the letter H is B-natural. So, the four blues pieces that spell the name B-A-C-H are in the keys of B-flat (major), A (minor), C (minor) and B (major).
Reception
The Allmusic review stated "This album has an interesting concept, alternating four original blues with five adaptations of melodies [sic] from classical works by Bach. The Modern Jazz Quartet had long been quite adept in both areas, and despite a certain lack of variety on this set (alternating back and forth between the two styles somewhat predictably), the music is largely enjoyable".[1]
Track listing
- "Regret?" (based on Bach) – 2:04
- "Blues in B Flat" (John Lewis) – 4:56
- "Rise Up in the Morning" (Bach) – 3:28
- "Blues in A Minor" (Lewis) – 7:53
- "Precious Joy" (Bach) – 3:12
- "Blues in C Minor" (Milt Jackson) – 7:58
- "Don't Stop This Train" (Bach) – 1:45
- "Blues in H (B)" (Jackson) – 5:46
- "Tears from the Children" (Bach) – 4:25
Personnel
References
- ^ a b Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 1, 2012
- ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008) The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th edition). Penguin. p. 1015
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 143. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ Modern Jazz Quartet discography accessed June 1, 2012
- ^ Stephen A. Crist, "Bach as Modern Jazz", in Bach Reworked, edited by Linda Buch, University of Illinois Press, 2020
This page was last edited on 19 April 2024, at 04:56