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Bach to the Blues: Improvisations on Classical Themes album cover

Album guide

Bach to the Blues: Improvisations on Classical Themes

The David Leonhardt Trio

Released
2009
Label
Big Bang Records
Forces
Piano, Trio
Personnel
David Leonhardt piano, Matthew Parrish bass, Alvester Garnett drums

David Leonhardt had been improvising on classical themes in concert throughout much of his thirty-eight-year career before devoting an album to them. With bassist Matthew Parrish and drummer Alvester Garnett, he approaches familiar music by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven and others as repertoire for a working jazz trio rather than as a separate crossover exercise.

The melodies remain clear enough to orient the listener, but the trio can alter the pulse, harmony and mood around them. The album tests how naturally these pieces can function as jazz standards, giving Leonhardt’s improvisations room to grow out of the compositions instead of merely decorating them.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsJ.S. Bach, Debussy, Schubert, Satie, Beethoven, Chopin, Pachelbel · classical source works

The listening queues above follow the same order. The classical player omits tracks that are not based on a classical original.

Jazzed upThe David Leonhardt Trio · 2009
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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. Prelude No. 15 In G Major, BWV 884J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude No. 15 in G major, BWV 860
  2. Claire De LuneDebussy: Suite bergamasque, L. 75: III. Clair de lune
  3. Ave Maria Op. 52, No. 6Schubert: Ellens dritter Gesang (‘Ave Maria’), Op. 52 No. 6, D. 839
  4. Gymnopedie No. 1Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1
  5. Prelude No. 20 In A Minor BWV 889J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier II: Prelude No. 20 in A minor, BWV 889
  6. Sonata Pathetique, Op. 13: Adagio CantabileBeethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique’: II. Adagio cantabile
  7. Simple GiftsNon-classical source
  8. Mazurka In G Minor, Op. 67, No. 2Chopin: Mazurka in G minor, Op. 67 No. 2
  9. Prelude No. 21 In Bb BWV 866J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude No. 21 in B-flat major, BWV 866
  10. Mazurka In C Major. Op. 67, No. 3Chopin: Mazurka in C major, Op. 67 No. 3
  11. Canon In DPachelbel: Canon in D major, P. 37