No doubt that readers of The Syncopated Times are as leery of stylistic fusion and “cross-over” projects as I am. I’m not a die hard moldy fig (yet) but if you’re going to weave elements of early jazz into other genres of music (especially lionized classical pieces) you’d better do something exceptionally interesting; it had better be beautiful, imaginative, and skillfully executed and it has to be done for more than the novelty.
Violinist, composer, educator, Gabe Terracciano’s newly minted downloadable, digital album, Three Part Invention (on Ligonia Records at Bandcamp) surprisingly surpasses those criteria and then some. The album’s title, in reference to Bach’s own “Three Part Inventions,” also underscores the notion of jazz’s improvisational invention and that the chamber ensemble on the CD are a trio including Josh Dunn on guitar and Ian Hutchison on bass.
Included among the tracks are Bach’s own “Invention #4,” Eric Satie’s, “Gymnopédie,” Beethoven’s “Pathétique,” “Madrigals,” as well as Django Reinhardt’s, “Flèche D'Or” and Gershwin’s “Crazy Rhythms”; both foreshadowing and belying the stylistic mix of things to come on the recording.
Merging classical music with jazz is itself not new. There are countless pieces of jazz (including some of the earliest) that take their inspiration and melodies from classical music.
