The Dutch organist
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, who died in 1621, was not only a gifted composer, but was already renowned in his day as an improviser. Behind the church organ or the harpsichord, he improvised on such well-known songs of the time as Ballo del Granduca and Malle Sijmen. HOT The Organ Trio saw connections to how centuries later, for example, jazz trumpeter
Miles Davis improvised on the
… hits of his time. The trio previously arranged jazz heroes Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington for church organ, clarinet and double bass. On Sweelinck, conversely, they give the 17th-century icon a jazzy approach in Utrecht's Nicolaïkerk. Fortunately, they do not turn it into boogaloo or other flat swing jazz (could have been). The trio stays true to the beautiful baroque melodies and dives intensely into their improvisational possibilities. The consecrated ground on which they play gives extra charge (and reverb) to the deep organ notes and the whimsical clarinet playing, which really gives a new and jazzy elan to the 17th century music. (MR)more
