JACQUES LOUSSIER TRIO – Play Bach/5 (1965-2000) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Bach treatments of France's Jacques Loussier Trio have fallen in and out of fashion. There's a certain 1960s-France flavor that initially seemed to date them quickly. But the reissue of this 1965 album, 44 years after the fact, points to their enduring appeal and raises the question of what's contributing to that appeal. One major factor is certainly Loussier's utterly liquid, technically facile piano playing. More important, though, may be that, among the various crossover projects that have explored the classical-jazz relationship in the intervening years, nobody else has quite duplicated the range and flexibility of Loussier's take on the matter. His adaptations of Bach begin with the simple addition of jazz rhythms to the regular chord changes shared by jazz with Baroque music, but he is rarely content with that: the music quickly veers into freer improvisatory treatments. Yet these are not just jazz improvisations that use Bach's melodies as a starting point. Loussier weaves dense webs of Bachian motifs and constructs multisectional compositions that approach the model in different ways. This particular album makes a good place to start for those interested in Loussier, for it offers an appealing variety of ideas. In the fugue section of the Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue for organ, BWV 564 (here simply designated "Toccata"), Loussier seems to avoid a formal fugal texture but lets polyphony seep in at every turn. A movement from the Sonata in E flat major for flute and keyboard, BWV 1031, is inventively turned into a piece of jazz nighttime mood music. Most impressive is the extensive treatment of the "Schübler" Chorale Prelude on "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," BWV 645, with an architecture not directly drawn from Bach but indissolubly linked to him. The reproduction of a good deal of the original album artwork, nicely rearranged for the CD format, is another plus. James Manheim 
Tracklist:
1     Toccata 7:45    
2     Adagio 3:42
3     Fuga 3:47
4     Siciliano 3:36
5     Choral No. 1 "Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme" 12:04
6     Theme 2:39
Credits:
Piano, Arranged By – Jacques Loussier
Bass – Pierre Michelot
Composed By – Johann Sebastian Bach
Drums, Percussion – Christian Garros