| Blues on Bach | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Modern Jazz Quartet |
| Cover: | Blues on Bach.jpg |
| Released: | 1974 |
| Recorded: | November 26–27, 1973 |
| Studio: | Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Length: | 41:27 |
| Label: | Atlantic QD 1652 |
| Producer: | Nesuhi Ertegun |
| Chronology: | Modern Jazz Quartet |
| Prev Title: | In Memoriam |
| Prev Year: | 1974 |
| Next Title: | The Last Concert |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
Blues on Bach is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded in 1973 and released on the Atlantic label.[1] The album includes five arrangements by John Lewis of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, interspersed with four original blues pieces "on" [the name] "Bach"—in keys (and with titles) that spell out in order the name B-A-C-H.
The five pieces arranged from Bach originals are: "Regret?" from chorale prelude "The Old Year Has Now Passed Away"; "Rise Up in the Morning" from the 140th cantata "Sleepers Wake"; "Precious Joy" from the 147th cantata "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"; "Don't Stop This Train" from the fugue by Johann Peter Kellner BWV Anh. 180 wrongly attributed to Bach;[2] and "Tears from the Children" from the Prelude 8 in E-flat minor from Book I of "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
For the four blues pieces, the "spelling" of the titles follows the system Bach and his German contemporaries used, in which the letter B indicates B-flat, and the letter H is B-natural. So, the four blues pieces that spell the name B-A-C-H are in the keys of B-flat (major), A (minor), C (minor) and B (major).
The Allmusic review stated "This album has an interesting concept, alternating four original blues with five adaptations of melodies [sic] from classical works by Bach. The Modern Jazz Quartet had long been quite adept in both areas, and despite a certain lack of variety on this set (alternating back and forth between the two styles somewhat predictably), the music is largely enjoyable".[3]