Il Jazz e il primo libro del 'Clavicembalo Ben Temperato'

Abstract

The world of jazz has always shown a particular interest towards the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier (1722-2022) was the incentive to investigate particularly the relation between jazz and this work. In the first part of this paper the authors analyse some possible motivations and general trends concerning the relationship between jazzmen and Bach's music. Some themes came out: ie the respect, or even devotion for Bach. On the other side many jazz musicians feel familiar with Bach, sometimes called "the first jazzman". In the second part, the focus is on some works by individual jazz musicians from different periods, countries and cultural trends (Jacques Loussier Trio, 1959 e 1960; John Lewis, 1985-1990; Enrico Pieranunzi, 2011; Édouard Ferlet, 2012; Brad Mehldau, 2018; Johann Sebastian Jazz [Iñaki Salvador e Alexis Delgado Búrdalo], 2020). Starting from analytical comments about these works, it's possible to notice how Bach's music has stimulated different and highly original readings. In Appendix is provided a catalogue, of course not exhaustive, of Bach-oriented jazz recordings, issued since 1935, until the 2022 anniversary. For each item there is a remark about the kind of elaboration, ranging from a simple reference in the title, to "jazz fugues", to more thorough and transformative creative reworking.