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WorldBeat Bach album cover

Album guide

WorldBeat Bach

Richard Stoltzman

Released
2000
Label
RCA Victor
Forces
Clarinet, Vibraphone
Personnel
Richard Stoltzman clarinet, with Gary Burton vibraphone and marimba, Romero Lubambo and Paul Meyers guitars, Jeremy Wall keyboards, Peter John Stoltzman piano, Eddie Gomez bass, Cyro Baptista percussion

WorldBeat Bach treats rhythm as the route into Bach. Jeremy Wall’s arrangements give each piece a particular dance or popular idiom, including samba, bossa nova, tango, flamenco, Afro-Cuban rhythm, calypso, gospel and West African influences.

Richard Stoltzman’s clarinet remains the melodic thread, but the changing ensemble matters just as much. Gary Burton moves between vibraphone and marimba, while Romero Lubambo, Eddie Gomez, Cyro Baptista, Peter John Stoltzman and Wall supply guitars, bass, percussion, piano and keyboards. Those shifting combinations allow the album to keep changing colour instead of placing the same beat beneath fourteen Bach melodies.

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, Petzold, Gounod · classical source works

The classical player has thirteen recordings for fourteen tracks because Siciliano Intro and Siciliano both draw on the Siciliano from Bach’s Flute Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031, and share its recording.

Jazzed upRichard Stoltzman · 2000
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Source works

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

  1. Maidens Awake (Samba)J.S. Bach: Cantata ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, BWV 140: IV. ‘Zion hört die Wächter singen’
  2. Minuet (Bossa Nova)Petzold: Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
  3. Siciliano Intro (Spanish)J.S. Bach: Flute Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano
  4. Siciliano (Afro-Cuban)J.S. Bach: Flute Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano
  5. Priceless Treasure (Tango)J.S. Bach: Motet ‘Jesu, meine Freude’, BWV 227: I. Chorale ‘Jesu, meine Freude’
  6. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (West African)J.S. Bach: Cantata ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’, BWV 147: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
  7. Invention (Flamenco)J.S. Bach: Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D minor, BWV 775
  8. Fugue in C Minor (Calypso)J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847
  9. Ave Maria (Samba)Gounod: Ave Maria, CG 89a, on J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C major, BWV 846
  10. Sheep May Safely Graze (Bolero)J.S. Bach: Cantata ‘Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd’, BWV 208: Sheep May Safely Graze
  11. Arioso (Gospel)J.S. Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056: II. Largo
  12. Prelude in E (West African)J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude No. 9 in E major, BWV 854
  13. Courante (Jazz)J.S. Bach: Keyboard Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830: III. Courante
  14. Air (Bossa Nova)J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air