Customer Reviews

Jazz Sebastian Bach, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dear Sirs! > I have not intention to buy the CD version of Jazz Sebastian Bach one of the highlights of the Swingle Singers. This is more testimony, but very, very rare, than professional review of one CD. But this text can be may be useful for your buyers. My English is not the best, so you fill free to rewrite this text in the way appropriate for you buyers.

Text of review

It was in Paris, France, probably on June 8th 1964. For the first time four ladies and four mans on stage in Cite Universite as vocal group Les >Swingle Singers. They open his first public appearance with Fugue in D Minor. Thirty seven years later I am seeing very clear those shine faces of artists, joyful that his project vocalize J. B. Bach is a true. I am hearing now one of the best singers in Europe, not only at that time, Christiane Legrand (sister of famous composer, conductor, piano player an even excellent singer M. Legrand). Hers voice in Aria is simply fantastic. I have the chance to hear this group on his second concert in Paris, several months later. This was also an excellent concert, but without unforgettable fire of the first one. I have 12 LP of this group even this performed by the group called Swingle II. If you hear the CD Jazz Sebastian Bach you would understand what told ones Charlie Parker. J. S. Bach is the greatest composer in the history of mankind. You would understand one other miracle, why last year Bobby McFerrin were able to improvise on Bach and at the same time the public on the square in Dresden sings Gounod's Ave Maria. > Igor Catic, Zagreb Croatia From time to time jazz presenter on Croatian broadcasting systems.

I loved listening to this with my Dad in the 60's and 70's and had always wanted a "clean" copy of my own. I have the original LP, but the pops and hisses now mar the recording and let's face it, a CD is a lot easier to listen to. This is NOT the title or album cover of the LP issued in the US, but IS the same recording as the "Bach's Greatest Hits" LP released here in 1963 (or 1964) with the white album cover and grey line drawings of Bach et al. It is just as I remebered it. What a nice memory.

When the Swingle Singers take on Bach's polyphony at full speed, it's exhilarating. Very cleanly done, very fun, and the jazz drums and bass add nicely to the sound.
Like many people, I have a soft spot for this group because my parents listened to them. (Next time your favorite retro-hipster starts in, pop this disk in, followed by a little Switched-On Bach, and let the love/hate debate begin.)
I could have done without a few of the slow Bach chestnuts featured here (maybe the "Wachet Auf" wasn't overdone in 1963), but the strong numbers, such as the mini-epic "Sinfonia", with a great soprano solo, carry the album to a higher plane. The drummer overplays in a few spots, but overall this record just plain works.
Recommended.

This is the original recording of the '60s Swingle Singers. It focuses on Bach and provides entertaining and intricate renditions of his works. I recently saw the New Swingle Singers, who were very good, but they are diverging into jazz and often sound like Manhattan Transfer. Their newer CDs all begin to sound alike. I prefer the original artistry.

I really enjoy The Swingle Singers, but will leave to others to detail and comment upon the music itself. My concerns are with this current release. I purchased Jass Sebastien Bach on CD a few years ago and the release contained 23 cuts. It turns out that release was actually what had originally been both volumes 1 and 2 of JSB, even though it was not labeled that way. This release has only 13 cuts, the other 10 being on JSB volume 2. I don't know if the combined version is still available anywhere, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Plus, as someone else mentioned the cardboard casing is a let down. Given how I stack my CDs I suspect that the cardboard will wear out faster and be less likely to protect the CD.

This is the straight reissue of the Swingle Singers' very first LP, published in France in 1963 under the title "Jazz Sébastien Bach" and in the US as "Bach's Greatest Hits". It was a great LP and remains a great recording. I've contended in my other reviews of the Swingle Singers that, besides the pleasure of any transcription (enabling you to hear the old warhorses in new and ear-catching timbral guise, like having your wife show up in a new sexy lingery, adding new thrills to the old routine), what makes their arrangements and realizations so fascinating is two things: first, they elevate to the status of high art what we all do, inadvertently, without even thinking about it, in a very rudimentary manner, walking on the street, washing the dishes, ironing or vacuuming - and, of course, showering: humming our favorite tunes. Second, they return instrumental music to its very essence and origin: the human voice. Presumably Bach (and Mozart, and Vivaldi) first hummed these tunes to themselves before committing them to the music sheet, and it is in the name of this essence and origin that it is expected of instrumentalists to make their instrument sing, even when their acoustical properties are radically different from those of the voice, like the plucked-string-harpsichord or the struck-string piano.

Fine then. But Universal is really milking the cow here. The original LP was no more than 32-minutes long, and this is what you get here. I simply don't get the point of these "original jacket collection" type of reissues. What's the point of getting 30 minutes on a CD when you can pair two LPs and give us 60 or more? Just for getting the glands of nostalgia of the older, LP-raised generation to salivate? I'm not listening to this for nostalgia, but because it spurs my enthusiasm, now, here and today! So I want more of it per CD.

And in fact, this is exactly what Polygram did in the early 1990s, when they first reissued that LP: they paired it with the Swingle's Bach sequel, first published in 1968: and that CD is still available at the time of writing, at very affordable prices: Jazz Sebastian Bach. So, quite frankly, I don't see who would want to buy the present disc. Why settle for less?

THE MUSIC IS FINE, THE CASING SYSTEM IS NOT THE CONVENTIONAL STYLE, INSTEAD IS A CARDBOARD MATERIAL THAT OVERLAPS THE CD AND, IN MY OPINION WILL DETERIORATE IN TIME.

The music/singing is great, just as expected, but don't be fooled by "2-volume" edition - with the total length of about 50 min, it could easily fit one CD. Not exactly dishones, but below expectations from Philips.