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Jacques Loussier

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist

Jacques Loussier (26 October 1934 – 5 March 2019) was a French pianist and composer. He arranged jazz interpretations of many of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as the Goldberg Variations. The Jacques Loussier Trio, founded in 1959, played more than 3,000 concerts and sold more than 7 million recordings—mostly in the Bach series. Loussier composed film scores and a number of classical pieces, including a Mass, a ballet, and violin concertos. His style is described as third stream, a synthesis of jazz and classical music, with an emphasis on improvisation.<ref name="AllMusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and educationEdit

Loussier was born on 26 October 1934 in Angers, France.<ref name="FM" /><ref name="MfJiF" /> He started piano lessons there at age ten.<ref name="Nicholas" /> When he was eleven, he heard a piece from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. In a 2003 interview, he said, "I was studying this piece and I just fell in love with it. Then I found I loved to play the music, but add my own notes, expanding the harmonies and playing around with that music."<ref name="Fordham" /> At 13, he met pianist Yves Nat in Paris, who regularly gave him projects for three months, after which he returned for another lesson.<ref name="Fordham" />

CareerEdit

Loussier began composing music while studying at the Conservatoire National Musique, having moved by then to Paris, with Nat, from the age of 16.<ref name="Sampson" /><ref name="Fordham" /> At a competition at the conservatory, he played a prelude by Bach, and when his memory failed, he improvised. He later said that he only followed a tradition, because musicians of the 18th century—including Bach—were great improvisers.<ref name="Sampson" /> Loussier played jazz in Paris bars to finance his studies.<ref name="Fordham" /> Fusing Bach and jazz was unique at the time.<ref name="Sampson" /> After six years of study, he travelled to the Middle East and Latin America, where he was inspired by different sounds. He stayed in Cuba for a year.<ref name="Fordham" />

Early in his career, Loussier was an accompanist for singers Frank Alamo, Charles Aznavour, Léo Ferré and Catherine Sauvage.<ref name="Haasis" /> In 1959, he formed the Jacques Loussier Trio with string bass player Pierre Michelot—who had played with Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France—and percussionist Christian Garros.<ref name="FM" /> They used Bach's compositions as a base for jazz improvisation and made many live appearances, tours, and concerts, as well as a number of recordings.<ref name="Nicholas" /> They began with Decca Records but changed to Philips/Phonogram in 1973. They sold over six million albums in 15 years.<ref name="Phares" /> Their best-known recording is "Air on the G String", which was used to advertise Hamlet cigars in the UK for over 30 years.<ref name="Lewis" />

In the mid-1970s, the trio was dissolved. Loussier set up his own recording studio, Studio Miraval, which opened in 1977, where he worked on compositions for acoustic and electric instruments.<ref name="Lewis" /><ref name="Haasis" /> He recorded with musicians such as Pink Floyd, Elton John,<ref name="Die Zeit" /> Sting, Chris Rea, and Sade.<ref name="Haasis" /> Parts of Pink Floyd's album The Wall were recorded there.<ref name="Haasis" /><ref name="Monde" />

In 1985, the tricentenary of Bach's birth, Loussier revived the trio with percussionist André Arpino and bassist Vincent Charbonnier.<ref name="FM" /><ref name="Goodwin" /><ref name="Lewis" /> Bassist Benoit Dunoyer de Segonzac has also played in the trio, replacing Charbonnier<ref name="Arloff" />—whose left hand was affected by a stroke, resulting in his being unable to continue to play the bass<ref name="Abdahllah" />—on a number of albums and concerts from at least as early as 1998 (on the album Satie: Gymnopédies Gnossiennes). Besides Bach, the trio recorded interpretations of compositions by Handel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin,<ref name="Lewis" /> Satie, Debussy, Ravel, and Schumann.<ref name="Sampson" /><ref name="FM" /> A 2005 recording, Take Bach, by the trio with the Pekinel sisters, features adaptations of Bach's concertos for two and three pianos.Template:Citation needed Loussier's last albums, My Personal Favorites<ref name="Arloff" /> and Beyond Bach, Other Composers I Adore, were released in 2014 on the occasion of his 80th birthday.<ref name="Augarde" />

File:JacquesLoussier by joelo2.jpg
Loussier in 2008

In March 2002, Loussier filed a $10 million lawsuit against rapper Eminem and The Marshall Mathers LP executive producer Dr. Dre, claiming that the beat for the track "Kill You" was stolen from his composition Pulsion. He demanded that all sales of the album be halted and any remaining copies destroyed.<ref name="Dansby" /> The case was settled out of court.<ref name="Finn" /><ref name="Lewis" />

DeathEdit

Loussier suffered a stroke during a performance at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr on 14 July 2011 and retired from the stage.<ref name="Sampson" /> He died on 5 March 2019 at the age of 84.<ref name="FM" />

CompositionsEdit

Loussier composed the music for over 100 films, made for cinema and television series,<ref name="Sampson" /><ref name="Die Zeit" /> beginning with The Happy Sixties in 1963. These included the scores for the films Heaven on One's Head (1965), À Belles Dents (1966), The Killing Game (1967), Dark of the Sun (1968), Monique (1970) and The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (1980), the theme tune for the popular 1960s French TV series Thierry la Fronde,<ref name="Monde" /> and the original sign-on music for La 3e chaîne, the predecessor television channel to France 3.<ref name="Lewis" />

Loussier also composed a trumpet concerto,<ref name="Sampson" /> two violin concertos,<ref name="Barnett" /> and music for a ballet, among other pieces.<ref name="Sampson" /> His Mass, Lumières: Messe Baroque du 21e Siècle (Lights: A Baroque Mass of the 21st Century), has been compared to Leonard Bernstein's Mass.<ref name="Lewis" />

RecordingsEdit

SoloEdit

  • 1962 – Jacques Loussier Joue Kurt Weill (RCA)
  • 1972 – Dark of the Sun (MGM) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1979 – Pulsion (CBS)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1979 – Pulsion/Sous la mer<ref name="jazznblues" />
  • 1980 – Fréderick Chopin par Jacques Loussier (CBS)
  • 1982 – Pagan Moon (CBS)<ref name="discog" />
  • 2004 – Impressions of Chopin's Nocturnes (Telarc CD-83602)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 2014 – Jacques Loussier Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Percussion/Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Tabla/Ignacy Jan Paderewski/Sonata in A minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 13<ref name="Barnett" /><ref name="Manheim" />

TrioEdit

  • 1959 – Play Bach No. 1 (Decca SSL 40.500)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1960 – Play Bach No. 2 (Decca SSL 40.502)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1961 – Play Bach No. 3 (Decca SSL 40.507)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1963 – Play Bach No. 4 (Decca SSL 40.516)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1965 – Play Bach aux Champs Élysées (Decca Coffret, two albums, SSL40.148)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1967 – Play Bach No. 5 (Decca SSL 40.205)<ref name="Oron" /><ref name="Hennessy" />
  • 1973 – 6 Masterpieces (Philips 6321-100) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1985 – The Best of Play Bach (Start STL6) – UK No. 58<ref name="Roberts" />
  • 1986 – Bach to the Future (Start CD SCD2) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1987 – Bach to Bach (Start CD Original Live in Japan SMCD 19) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1988 – Brandenburg Concertos (Limelight-Japan CD 844 058-2, Decca)<ref name="discog" />
  • 1988 – The Greatest Bach (Partita No.1 in B Flat Major BWV 825, Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor BWV 1067) (Limelight CD 844 059-2, Decca)<ref name="Wagnleitner" /><ref name="AlbumArt" />Template:Citation not found
  • 1990 – Lumières: Messe Baroque du 21ième siècle (Decca CD 425217-2)<ref name="DNB" /> (Template:OCLC)
  • 1993 – Play Bach 93 Volume 1 (Note Productions CD 437000-2) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1994 – Play Bach Aujourd'hui Les Thèmes en Ré (Note Productions CD 437000-4) (Template:OCLC)
  • 1995 – Jacques Loussier Plays Bach (Telarc), Compilation "Play Bach 93" et "Les Thèmes en Ré" (Note Productions)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 1997 – Jacques Loussier Plays Vivaldi (Telarc CD 83417)<ref name="Berg" />
  • 1998 – Satie (Telarc CD 83431) (Template:OCLC)<ref name="Lewis" />
  • 1999 – Ravel's Bolero (Telarc CD 83466) (Template:OCLC)<ref name="Lewis" />
  • 2000 – Bach's Goldberg Variations (Telarc CD 83479) (Template:OCLC)
  • 2000 – Plays Debussy (Telarc CD 83511) <ref name="Lewis" />
  • 2000 – Play Bach No. 1 (Decca 157 561–2) (Template:OCLC)
  • 2002 – Handel: Water Music & Royal Fireworks (Telarc CD 83544) (Template:OCLC)
  • 2003 – Beethoven: Allegretto from Symphony No. 7: Theme and Variations (Telarc CD-83580)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 2004 – The Best of Play Bach (Telarc SACD-63590) (Template:OCLC)
  • 2005 – Mozart Piano Concertos 20/23 (Telarc CD-83628)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 2007 – Encore! – Jacques Loussier Plays Bach (Telarc 83671-25) (Template:OCLC)
  • 2009 – Jacques Loussier Plays Bach: The 50th Anniversary Recording (Telarc 83693-25)<ref name="AllMusic50th" />
  • 2011 – Schumann: Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) (Telarc TEL-32270-02)<ref name="DNB" />
  • 2014 – Beyond Bach, Other Composers I Adore (Telarc TEL-35342-02)<ref name="Augarde" />
  • 2014 – My Personal Favorites: The Jacques Loussier Trio Plays Bach (Telarc TEL-35319-02)<ref name="Arloff" />

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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