Bach in Black

Bach meets jazz. The Jazz-tempered Trio is New Zealand's premier exponent of classical-jazz fusion. With more than a nod to the unique style of Jacques Loussier, we give the music of the Baroque masters, primarily Johann Sebastian Bach, the jazz treatment.

The Jazz-tempered Trio was conceived in 2004 in the comfortable surroundings of the Backbencher Pub and Café, Wellington, New Zealand, where we were the resident band for one year. Since then, we have given recitals at the Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, Old St. Paul's, St. Andrew's-on-the-Terrace and Wellington Town Hall, in addition to private and corporate functions.

The intention was to perform works by J.S. Bach in a jazz style, and our repertoire consists predominantly of selected works from The Well-tempered Clavier. Other works by Pachelbel, Handel and Monteverdi also feature.

Bach was both an innovative and pragmatic composer who would often rearrange his compositions for whatever instrumentation was available to him at the time - who knows what he might have produced if, one day, he walked into his office to find a Steinway grand piano, a double bass and a drum kit! He was also a very highly accomplished improviser, as is evident in many of his keyboard compositions, particularly chorale-based ones. Coupled with solid harmonic structure and strong bass lines this means that much of Bach's work lends itself naturally to a jazz approach. Indeed the Aria is a 32 bar piece - a standard jazz measure.

We have been very much influenced by the Jacques Loussier Trio, whom I had the privilege of meeting on their visit to Wellington in 2006. However all arrangements are our own, often taking an interpretation a step further by introducing familiar excerpts by other composers/performers.

On this recording we have been careful not to destroy the essence of the original works with extended free improvisations. Rather, our arrangements include a number of techniques (double time passages, added introductions, latin rhythms, swing passages) that add a jazzy or unusual twist whilst still adhering to the original composition. To add a further dimension to this recording we have introduced a flautist in four tracks. Some of the pieces work perfectly well played 'straight' with little or no swing.