What the *&^% is this? More Jethro Tull?

What the <bleep> is going on here...

When I began playing guitar in the early 1980’s, I went on the hunt for music that I wanted to learn to play. The first Alcatrazz album I bought — mainly because I heard it at a local Tower Records store — had a track called “Coming Bach”, and it was Malmsteen’s adaptation of J.S. Bach’s “Bouree”.

I loved that, but I knew from the title that it was “Bach”. This being before the internet and streaming services, and Google, I had to go a-hunting.

After a few great CD’s were added to my collection with the music of Bach, and finally I got “Bouree”.

I was entranced. It was solo classical guitar, it has solid point-counterpoint construction, combining a walking bass line with a thematic motif. It is not a difficult piece by classical guitar standards, and that means I was able to learn and master it.

Not long after that, I bought a copy of Jethro Tull’s 1969 album “Stand Up”, mainly because it had a tune I was learning, “It was a new day yesterday, but it’s an old day now” and it also had Bouree!

Many years later, Ian Anderson and the gang was performing, and this track got laid down. From the witty Ian introduction to the transition to a jazzy rendition, it is audible bliss.

Here’s Bouree in E Minor as written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Honestly, I love them both. I hope you do as well!

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