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Plays JS Bach album cover

Album guide

Plays JS Bach

Kevin Hunt

Composer
J.S. Bach
Released
1998
Label
ABC Jazz
Forces
Piano, Trio
Personnel
Kevin Hunt piano and bells, Gary Holgate bass, Lawrie Thompson drums

Kevin Hunt’s Bach trio began with a commission from Leslie Moore for the Darling Harbour Festival. The 1998 album was then recorded at ABC Studio 227 in conjunction with Jim McLeod’s Jazztrack programme; it won ABC Classic FM’s listeners’ choice award and was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album.

McLeod’s sleeve note places Hunt in the tradition opened by Jacques Loussier. Gary Holgate and Lawrie Thompson provide the familiar piano-trio foundation, while Hunt’s arrangements break out of Bach’s written structures into improvisation and add bells to two short interludes.

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 · classical source works

Five recordings serve all eight tracks: BWV 147 covers tracks 1 and 2, the BWV 846 Fugue tracks 3 and 7, and the BWV 772 Invention tracks 4 and 5, while tracks 6 and 8 have one recording each.

Jazzed upKevin Hunt · 1998
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You can still browse the complete track listing below.

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Source works

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

  1. Jazz, Jesu JoyHerz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring)
  2. Celtic JesuHerz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesus bleibet meine Freude, its counter line
  3. True TouchThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 846
  4. Everyman’s BellsTwo-Part Invention No. 1 in C major, BWV 772
  5. Theme For EverymanTwo-Part Invention No. 1 in C major, BWV 772
  6. Passage Of TimeThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847
  7. True BellsThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, reached through the album’s own track 3, ‘True Touch’
  8. AveThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846