Jazz pianists Michel Legrand and Jacques Loussier do not really qualify as jazzmen but both have made contributions to the music.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Jacques Loussier Trio, who are best known for their swinging reinterpretations of J.S. Bach's compositions.
The title Jacques Loussier Plays Bach: The 50th Anniversary Recording, on Telarc, is misleading. The recordings predate the current trio that comprise bassist Benoit Dunoyer de Segonzac, drummer Andre Arpino and Loussier.
This lineup, the leader believes, is the best there has been, but he credits bassist Vincent Charbonnier, who injected new life into the format when the trio were revived in 1985, with laying the foundations for a more adventurous approach to the classics. It is Charbonnier who performs on all Bach selections here, which although they are undated, must have been recorded before 1997 when the bassist suffered a stroke.
Jazz and classical music purists usually dislike Loussier, saying his music fails to measure up to the highest standards of either discipline. That is perhaps true but it remains a worthwhile intermingling of elements of different but related styles, and the more recent recordings are particularly worth hearing. Those here find Loussier, Charbonnier and Arpino beginning to take their music to a new level.
The Legrand album also comprises old recordings that have long been unavailable. Legrand Jazz has been reissued on Essential Jazz Classics, coupled, on the same disc, with Miles Davis' soundtrack for Louis Malle's film Ascenseur Pour l'Echafaud, a wise pairing.
Legrand has made a number of jazz albums over the years, all featuring noteworthy players, but this is the most star-studded. Although he is a fine jazz pianist he does not play on these sessions, but he conducts many of the best American musicians of the era through his own arrangements of jazz standards ranging from Louis Armstrong's Wild Man Blues and Bix Beiderbecke's In a Mist to more contemporary fare such as John Lewis' Django.