Let's hope they give him a better piano this time. When Jacques Loussier last played City Hall, where he and his trio appear tonight, he was seated behind an instrument that looked as though it had been built by Louis Vuitton.
The piano's visual impact could hardly be ignored and Loussier apologised to the audience, noting that fortunately it sounded much better than it looked. Loussier has always had style, but the contentious point is whether he has substance.
Jazz artists with record sales in the millions are rare, and critical contempt is a price they often pay for popular success. As a man who built a career on jazz-influenced interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions, however, Loussier has excited the ire of both jazz purists and lovers of classical music.
To the first, his music is not authentic jazz. To the second, he is a bowdleriser of sacred texts. But approached without prejudice, Loussier's music has much to offer. It is melodic, it swings and has a lot of high-level improvisation.
It also has some integrity.
The element of swing, as he reasonably points out, is there in Bach's original notation, and the composer was renowned for his improvisational prowess.
