FliegendeHollaender (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@MrBranchFreeman He actually was. Based on many accounts of the day, he was supposed to be as good an improviser as he was a composer. When people would ask for his profession he would claim "Organist" instead of "Komponist", it is my firm belief and humble opinion than jazz has eliminated the "composer/performer" dichotomy, playing more condensed music in smaller ensembles. Jazz is not the blue notes, so that is to say, Bach was basically a "jazz" musician with no recording available :)

MrBranchFreeman (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@gryderz Yeah it's so true...Baroque and Jazz music are pretty similar, and he'd be killer at improv!

homoignobilis (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The guy front row second from the left is Ward Swingle himself; Yes, he sang in both his groups, the other being the Paris Double Six.

homoignobilis (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

This off their first album. They were one of two of Ward Swingle's groups, the other being The Paris Double Six which did Progressive Jazz. And actually, the piece was not originally written for organ, but for ensembles of any kind. He was in many ways the world's first Popular Music composer and was as mean as Miles Davis.

gryderz (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

If Bach would return alive to our age, i think HE would be the BEST jazz musician. :)

proulxmontpellier (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

My sis once asked me how did they manage to swing that music, since she'd read the music as they sang and they just sang what she read, nothing more. It's actually just the syllables. The alternance of da and ba makes it. What's worse (?) is that Bach's son wrote that the notes ought to be played slightly unequally, so as to give them a dancing colour... which no classical musician would dare to do.

martinvoet (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Bach would have loved it

kander63 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@colourfulwithaU: hear, hear! I think Bach's music is sacred, precisely because you can play it on pretty much any instrument and it still sounds great! I truly believe that there could never be another composer who will surpass Bach, and that as long as humans walk upon the earth, people will be listening to his music.

FliegendeHollaender (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@NaturesHeartBeat well, do so, she obviously wants to kill you.

colourfulwithaU (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@brono25Some idiot purists who think that Bach's music is sacred and should only ever be played on the instrument for which it's intended.