Cast
Jacques Loussier — Composer, pianist
Program notes
At the crossroads of two seemingly different worlds, the pianist and composer Jacques Loussier revisits Schumann’s Kinderszenen with a jazzy twist! Founder of The Trio Play Bach, a world-renowned band since the 1960s – formed with drummer Christian Garros, who played with Django Reinhardt, and bassist Pierre Michelot, a sideman for Miles Davis – the pianist brings the driving rhythms of swing and the colorful virtuosity of bebop to the great works of Bach, Debussy, Vivaldi, Ravel, Beethoven and many more!
While his art strongly divided the critics at first – John Rockwell reported being “actively appalled by the very notion of ‘popularizing’ Bach” considering it “stuck too close to Bach for jazz and too close to cocktail/salon jazz for satisfaction.” (The New York Times, 1975) – it quickly and undoubtedly became one of the most appreciated by the aficionados of both genres, praising Loussier’s “fertile imagination, excellent musical instincts” and “powerhouse technique” (Robert Shermann for The Times, 1966), with more than 7 million records sold over the past decades.
In 1997, after reinterpreting Vivaldi's masterpieces at Munich’s Philharmonic, the pianist takes on Schumann’s Scenes From Childhood to prove, once again, that jazz and classical music have always made the best mix!
