Bach (re)Inventions
Spanish musicians Moises P. Sanchez, Pablo M. Caminero, and Pablo M. Jones join forces on this album to present Bach’s fifteen inventions (BWV 772-786) within a jazz envelope. This approach isn’t new; the most famous interpretation of Bach with jazz trio is by Jacques Loussier and his trio, which changed over the years. I am not sure how seriously Loussier’s work penetrated the minds and hearts of the establishment of professional musicians. Some years ago I came across a video from one of the annual Bachfest festivals in Leipzig. Outside in the square, opposite St. Thomas’ church, in wet weather, if I recall, was Loussier and his trio performing the famous cantor’s music under a tent. The video portrayed a raptured audience as well.
I’m guessing there’s no better acceptance of Bach played by a jazz trio than being invited to perform inside the Thomaskirche!
Sanchez (piano), Caminero (bass), and Jones (percussion) aren’t out, I think, to re-create the Loussier formula, but it’s hard not hear the resemblance in the second invention, BWV 773. The jazz style these musicians brings to the table is more contemporary, and if we delve into the excellent liner notes, we pull from the words how personal this project was for Sanchez and the two Pablos. He writes that he felt bad trying to re-write Bach and the music with which almost anyone in a musical tradition is already familiar. The aim, then, was to bring their perspectives and voices as musicians to the project, which was sponsored by the Fundación Juan March.
In this recording each invention is presented is a microcosm; for instance in the D major invention (BWV 774) the piece is presented verbatim with the punctuation of percussion and the use of bass to articulate the bass line until the piece kind of devolves into a solo for the bass, which is played with a bow. The group’s arrangement doesn’t travel too far from Bach’s harmonic world. The piece then travels Bach to the land of Bach and ends with another original quotation. Across the board, the percussion adds atmosphere and punctuates the highs and lows of phrases.
In the D minor invention (BWV 775) the percussion drives the momentum while plucked bass offers counterpoint to the quotation of Bach’s music on the piano; like the previous invention, the group leaves the original music behind and goes rogue in their exposition of thematic material from the original music. The percussion acts here to anchor the two parts with continual drive. If you were to “drop the needle” in the middle of the track you might not recognize the mark of Bach at all, but then soon all gives way to come back to the source material to bookmark the track.
A similar formula is used in the ninth invention, a favorite of mine (F minor, BWV 780). The piano gives a full quotation of the invention accompanied by bass augmenting the left hand; percussion drives the music forward and then in the interlude after the quotation the percussion, again, continues the momentum forward while synthesizers and vocals come into the fray in a series of repeated figures. The synthesizers and sound created by manipulation of the piano voice which recedes into the background is interesting and unexpected. The percussion goes beyond a drum kit and the tinkles at the end reveal the melodic material borrowed from Bach’s theme.
African thumb piano or mbira has a melodic role in the G major invention (BWV 781). The piano is still in its far-away place, creating a sound world that is again, altogether different from the ensemble we heard at the beginning of the album, quite far from the Loussier-standard. The gritty Loussier sound comes back in the G minor invention (BWV 782) but direction here takes the melodic material in new directions instead of simply quoting the original.
The trio’s handling of the A minor invention (BWV 784) too starts with a direct quotation on piano, reinforced with bass for the left hand, and minimal articulation from the drumkit before the piece almost ends… the penultimate chord is held on the piano until the instrument naturally decays. Jones takes over on the drumkit, keeping the same tempo. We can almost hear the piano part noodling above in the way he keeps the rhythm going from the piece’s start. He’s finally joined again with original material on piano and bass, keeping within Bach’s harmonic world. Sanchez’s melodic noodling is done well but then the piece ends just as we were going somewhere.
The recorded sound on this album is excellent. The sonic character of the piano is very well captured, the full spectrum of nuances from Jones pops, and together the three are presented cleanly where piano is on the left, bass is center, and percussion is on the right. I really can’t get enough of this sound, it was so well recorded.
In the end, despite excellent playing and an excellent recorded sound, there was something missing in terms of the approach used to re-invent the inventions. In too many instance I think they thought they had to present Bach’s music un-adulterated, before they could have permission to do their own thing. And the pieces are all short, which may have limited the scope of what they thought they could do. The approach with the B minor invention, BWV 786 is nice: they open with some punctuated chords which serve as an introduction to the main course of Bach’s invention, as written. The chords come back after the presentation, the small melodic quotation in the right hand near the end is more of what I wanted—take Bach’s inventios in new directions. Bach’s inventions were envisioned as keyboard exercises but also as compositional models: here’s a compact, melodic idea and now we’re going to spin that out to make a piece. Bach’s melodies start typically in the right hand then switch over to the left, preparing us, in theory, for more difficult fugues later. The genius in these pieces is the well-considered germs or themes that Bach created. It’s the strong character of each of these “inventions” or musical ideas that make the pieces singable, recognizable, and ultimately satisfying. I wish the trio here would have done more to unravel these melodic germs in their renditions. This is not to dismiss what they did, I think some of the solutions here are worth keeping; but there was perhaps some missed opportunities to stretch those phrases even further without feeling they had to provide direction quotations in every case.
All said, I think this album will appeal to those who are extremely familiar with these short pieces or have even played them. Recognizing the themes with the support of Jones’ rhythmic intensity and Caminero’s agile fingers with bass would be so difficult to dislike. For those who have admired Loussier’s treatment of Bach with a jazz idiom will certainly find plenty to like here, with freshness and in some cases a very different sound world. For those who appreciate great recorded sound, the effort here is exemplary.
