Jacques Loussier: Plays Bach, Encore! (Telarc) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

 |   |  <1 min read

Jacques Loussier Trio: Concerto in F Minor, Allegro
Jacques Loussier: Plays Bach, Encore! (Telarc) BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2007

Those of us with long memories and greying temples will remember a time when New Zealand television had cultural programmes in prime time, albeit in black'n'white.

One of the mainstays of those days was pianist Jacques Loussier whose trio jazzed up Bach, and looked very cool doing it. Loussier made a bit of a career out of jazzing the classics, but unlike some he seemed to have an intuitive sense of swing as well as poise -- so while serving both masters he managed to create something his own.

This double disc (two for the price of one) comes from recordings in the early 90s and has something else: the second disc are his own compositions, the first being an expansive and quite dramatic Concerto for Violin and Percussion played by the Prague Kammer Orchestra. It moves through very different sequences and styles (pieces are entitled Prague, L'Homme nu, Buenos Aires Tango, and Tokyo), and it is quite engrossing.

But the first disc of Bach is the one that will probably get repeat plays.

Loussier may not be a familiar name to many these days -- but Eminem knows him all too well. Loussier sued the rapper for ripping off his tune Pulsion for the beat of Kill You on the Marshall Mathers LP.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Jazz at Elsewhere articles index

John Key Trio: Back and Forth (Odd)

John Key Trio: Back and Forth (Odd)

Because there is so little money to be made out of releasing a local jazz album, you are surprised to find anyone bothering at all. And that may explain the nine year gap between this by... > Read more

10 INFLUENTIAL JAZZ ALBUMS IN MY COLLECTION: The shape of me to come

10 INFLUENTIAL JAZZ ALBUMS IN MY COLLECTION: The shape of me to come

During the Covid-19 lockdown, Facebook was awash with people being asked to choose their favourite albums, books and so on. And I too was there at the invitation of Rodney Hewson, a music man... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES by EDWARD BURTYNSKY (DVD): Scarred earth policy

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES by EDWARD BURTYNSKY (DVD): Scarred earth policy

The breathtaking opening shot in this documentary - a single, walking-pace, almost silent, dolly shot through a seemingly endless, multi-purpose factory in China which runs a full seven and a half... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: Fargo, The Complete First Season (DVD)

THE BARGAIN BUY: Fargo, The Complete First Season (DVD)

Just as the television series Fargo -- based on the Coen brothers much acclaimed mid-Nineties film of the same name -- started screening in New Zealand, a well placed television critic went into... > Read more