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Blues on Bach
Blues on Bach
Studio album by Modern Jazz Quartet
Released	1974
Recorded	November 26–27, 1973
Studio	Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	41:27
Label	Atlantic; QD 1652
Producer	Nesuhi Ertegun
Modern Jazz Quartet chronology
Milt Jackson chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[3]

Blues on Bach is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded in 1973 and released on the Atlantic label.^[4] The album includes five arrangements by John Lewis of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, interspersed with four original blues pieces "on" [the name] "Bach"—in keys (and with titles) that spell out in order the name B-A-C-H.

The five pieces arranged from Bach originals are: "Regret?" from chorale prelude "The Old Year Has Now Passed Away"; "Rise Up in the Morning" from the 140th cantata "Sleepers Wake"; "Precious Joy" from the 147th cantata "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"; "Don't Stop This Train" from the fugue by Johann Peter Kellner BWV Anh. 180 wrongly attributed to Bach;^[5] and "Tears from the Children" from the Prelude 8 in E-flat minor from Book I of "The Well-Tempered Clavier".

For the four blues pieces, the "spelling" of the titles follows the system Bach and his German contemporaries used, in which the letter B indicates B-flat, and the letter H is B-natural. So, the four blues pieces that spell the name B-A-C-H are in the keys of B-flat (major), A (minor), C (minor) and B (major).

Reception

The Allmusic review stated "This album has an interesting concept, alternating four original blues with five adaptations of melodies [sic] from classical works by Bach. The Modern Jazz Quartet had long been quite adept in both areas, and despite a certain lack of variety on this set (alternating back and forth between the two styles somewhat predictably), the music is largely enjoyable".^[1]

Track listing

"Regret?" (based on Bach) – 2:04
"Blues in B Flat" (John Lewis) – 4:56
"Rise Up in the Morning" (Bach) – 3:28
"Blues in A Minor" (Lewis) – 7:53
"Precious Joy" (Bach) – 3:12
"Blues in C Minor" (Milt Jackson) – 7:58
"Don't Stop This Train" (Bach) – 1:45
"Blues in H (B)" (Jackson) – 5:46
"Tears from the Children" (Bach) – 4:25

Personnel

References

^ ^a ^b Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 1, 2012
^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008) The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th edition). Penguin. p. 1015
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 143. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
^ Modern Jazz Quartet discography accessed June 1, 2012
^ Stephen A. Crist, "Bach as Modern Jazz", in Bach Reworked, edited by Linda Buch, University of Illinois Press, 2020