By John Lewis | Arranged for Two Cellos by David Sanford | 7′

Title: Blues in A minor
Composer: John Lewis
Arranged by: David Sanford
Year Composed: 1973/2010
Instrumentation: Two Cellos
Duration: 7′
Format: Score + Parts
Catalogue Number: OM0310

Printed Edition Price: 25.00 USD


PDF Price: 20.00 USD

Listen to an excerpt of Blues in A minor:

Who’s playing? Matt Haimovitz + Dominic Painchaud, cellos

David Sanford writes in the liner notes to the Oxingale recording:

Blues in A Minor (1973) is from the Modern Jazz Quartet’s Blues on Bach album. Accordingly, composer and pianist John Lewis—one of the composers who most successfully worked in the style that Gunther Schuller would call Third Stream—composed it as a passacaglia in 12-bar blues form. The melody modulates through a short set of sequences to the closely related key of F major for a bravura bass solo by Percy Heath before returning to the original key for a reprise of the head and final bass cadenza. This two-cello version is inspired by the powerful austerity of the work, the quartet’s intuitive elegance, and Heath’s virtuosity and great humor.

This work is recorded on Oxingale Records’ album Meeting of the Spirits. Click here to go to the album page on iTunes.