Brandenburg Jazz

There's something ironic about the attraction jazz musicians all seem to feel for the work of J.S. Bach. It's not that jazz and classical music aren't related on the contrary, jazz itself is a fusion of the rhythmic complexity of African music and the harmonic complexity of European music it's that Bach's particular genius was for counterpoint, a technique that jazz largely ignores. You can't improvise without abandoning strict counterpoint, and yet to depart from Bach's contrapuntal structures is, often, to disembowel his music. So there's a certain tension in the air when jazz players take on Bach. All of that said, there's simply no denying the charm of Loussier's trio arrangements.

Ron Carter - Brandenburg Concerto (1995) {Blue Note ‎CDP 7243 8 54559 2 6}
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© 1995 eau Records / Blue Note / Toshib-EMI ‎| CDP 7243 8 54559 2 6
Jazz / Classical / Post Bop / Bass

The distinguished jazz bassist's third "classical" album on jazz's Blue Note label is one of those exercises best heard as a one-off bit of live fun in the artist's living room. The title track finds a string orchestra led by Kermit Moore performing a perfectly straight, if not terribly neat, run-through of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, with Carter playing a bass continuo above (rather than below) the group, as well as soloing in spotlit passages.

The names of Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff do not necessarily conjure images and sounds of jazz in one's mind, that is until one has listened to recordings by the Classical Jazz Quartet. Although these musicians utilize the same instruments as the Modern Jazz Quartet, they are in no way clones or copycats of that groundbreaking group. They have very much their own sound and style. This is not surprising given the huge talent of the musicians involved; all four are virtuosos on their respective instruments. The themes, although composed in a different time and place, become excellent vehicles for complex, sometimes, bluesy, often swinging and always fresh improvisations in the hands of these musicians.

The Classical Jazz Quartet Kenny Barron on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Stefon Harris on vibraphone and marimba, and Lewis Nash on drums seems to begin where the Modern Jazz Quartet of the 1950s left off, right down to the CJQ initials that seem to evoke memories of the earlier group. Bach was the staple of the classical-music treatments the MJQ released.

Dave Brubeck - Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia (1958) {Columbia ‎CK 48531 rel 1992}
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© 1958, 1992 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | ‎CK 48531
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Piano / Saxophone

In 1958, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, one of the most popular jazz groups in the world, played 80 concerts in 14 countries during a three-month period. To salute the marathon road trip, the pianist/leader composed six songs for a new recording (which is now out on this CD). "Nomad" and "Brandenburg Gate" are the best-known originals but all of the other selections are equally enjoyable, featuring fine solos from Brubeck and altoist Paul Desmond.