Album Notes

Justin Locke is the author of several \"family concert works\" for orchestra. His \"Peter VS the Wolf\" and \"The Phantom of the Orchestra\" have been done by orchestras all over the world, on four continents and two island nations, in five languages. (He is also the author of “Real Men Don’t Rehearse,” a fun musical memoir of his “playing days” as a bass player with the Boston Pops.)

In this musical fantasy story, Johann Sebastian Bach is somewhat despondent, as his music is not selling. Everyone tells him his music is old fashioned (and since he held on to baroque style longer than anyone, so far the story is based on fact). To help him out, his 22 children (yes, he did have 22 kids) get together and hire a manager for dear old dad– not realizing that the manager they have hired is from modern day Los Angeles. With neither party noticing the time schism, Bach’s new manager tells Johann his music is “okay, but it needs work.” The manager then hires an arranger to “fix up” Bach’s music in order to make it more appealing to a modern audience. After hearing all these many new versions of his music, Bach offers up an arrangement of his own. Unfortunately, it is in swing style, which the manager points out is, again, hopelessly old fashioned. But Bach’s little swing tune is a sleeper hit; it ignites a world wide resurgence in swing music, wins every award you can name, and Bach goes on to fame and fortune, much to the chagrin of the manager.