Focus on Jacques Loussier

Another album sees the light of day and memories come flooding back.

Goodness me I was honoured. A snot nosed, acne marked and at some times an annoying little brother was invited by my elder brother David and his bestie Chris to go to a live concert performed by the Jacques Loussier Trio. We went to the Adelphi Cinema in Slough in Chris's red mini whose number plate I can remember to this day; VJB 838.

Over here in the UK in the 1960's and 1970's and long before smoking ads were banned in July 2003, Hamlet Cigars ran an advertising campaign on TV and in cinemas. The story arc of their campaign was that when all around is falling apart and becoming chaos the lighting up and enjoying of a Hamlet cigar would give the smoker a bit of peace and quiet.

One scenario I do remember was that of some starting stalls on the racecourse loaded and ready for the off. After the horses have gone the camera zooms into one stall where there is a horse and jockey who have completely missed the break. Instead of panicking the horse munches some grass and the jockey lights up a Hamlet.

The accompanying music was J S Bach's "Aria" or as it is more familiarly known his "Air On A G String" arranged by Jacques Loussier and played by his trio.

This is played on side three of this double sided album.

I have three issues with this track. The first is that it just isn't long enough and seems to be over almost as soon as the listener recognises and says "Ah, Bach's Air on a G String". The second is that, and this is allowing for my complete musical ineptitude, is that the tune is impossible for me to either hum or whistle. Its simplicity is its own complexity. The third is that "No, Hamlet cigars do not give the smoker peace in the midst of anarchy". I tried one once; felt like I was going to cough up everything I needed to breathe and couldn't get rid of the aftertaste for about a week.

That concert in the 1960's was magical. Not only because it was on a school night and I was out with my brother and his bestie but because it was the first ever highly sophisticated concert I had ever been to. A full cinema and three men in tuxedos playing the most magical music, including "Air On A G String.

Along with fond memories of this type of music and enduring love of it I brought away from that concert a love of the work of J S Bach which I hope many other people have developed after hearing this trio. Much the same as the Three Tenors and The Pearl Fishers by Bizet introduced opera and classical music to a whole new audience.

Jacques Loussier certainly has not desecrated J S Bach's music. I am sure that the man himself greeted Loussier somewhere in the afterlife, gave him a huge welcoming hug and shared a keyboard with him. Or he bopped away in his periwig and breeches and one of Loussier's arrangements of a Cantata.

LINE UP

Jacques Loussier (piano and organ) (1934 - 2019)

Pierre Michelot (double bass) (1928 - 2005)

Christian Garros (drums) (1920 - 1988)

PLAY LIST

Side 1

Toccata (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Sicilien in G Minor (from Flute Sonata in E flat

Chorale (Jesu, joy of man's desiring)

Side 2

Prelude No 1 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier)

Fugue No 1 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier)

Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor

Side 3

Prelude No. 6 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier)

Aria (Air on a G String)

Chorale No 1 in B flat (Sleepers wake)

Side 4

Italian Concerto

Allegro

Adagio

Presto