Jacques Loussier - Play Bach Volume #1 to #5

2018 release from Universal Music Europe.  Contains Play Bach #1 to #5

Loussier was born in 1934 in Angers, France to a banker and homemaker. He first started taking piano lessons around age ten. Soon after, he discovered the music of Bach, including pieces like "Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach" and "Prelude in G Minor." He became entranced, often improvising naturally upon the themes in the pieces. By his teens he had moved to Paris where he studied privately with noted pianist Yves Nat, delving deeper into Bach, as well as composers like Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns. He enrolled at the Conservatoire National Musique and continued to expand his skills outside of class playing jazz gigs at local bars. While at school he began to compose, and further solidified his third stream approach fusing classical with jazz.

Following his graduation, he embarked on a fruitful career as an accompanist, working with a bevy of marquee singers including Charles Aznavour, Frank Alamo, Catherine Sauvage, and others. He was able to travel and soak up the musical traditions of other parts of the world including that of the Middle East and Latin America. He also formed his own trio with bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Christian Garros. Known for their jazz reworkings of Bach pieces, the trio debuted with a series of albums on Decca beginning with Play Bach No. 1 in 1959 and culminating in Play Bach Aux Champs Elysees in 1965. A major success for Loussier, the trio toured and recorded for 15 years, moving from Decca to Philips/Phonogram in the early '70s and selling over six million albums.