Michelle Nicolle - The Bach Project
Vocalist Michelle Nicolle’s The Bach Project adds a new perspective to the music of J.S. Bach.
Melbourne based vocalist Michelle Nicolle’s new release The Bach Project richly embraces the music of J.S. Bach in their unique chamber jazz style. The album interrogates the art of interpretation, improvisation and reimagines these masterworks. The quartet’s arrangements showcase the mastery of J.S. Bach’s compositions and add a new flavour to the improvisational elements found (and sometimes lost) in these great works. Features her long standing quartet of guitarist Geoff Hughes, bassist Tom Lee and drummer Ronny Ferella.
“Michelle is a singer born to charm, enlighten and seduce through music.” - Kurt Elling
With The Bach Project, Nicolle has attempted to blur the lines and disregard any stylistic rulebooks, instead digging deep into the beauty, richness and often grit of Bach’s music. In The Bach Project, time travel is made possible: Bach’s Fugue in G Minor is intertwined with the jazz great Thelonius Monk’s masterpiece Round Midnight. March in D major is given a treatment in the style of early Ornette Coleman. Bassist Tom Lee collaborates on the arrangement with Nicolle to bring together the Horace Silver ballad Lonely Woman and Sarabande from Partita No.1. Guitarist Geoff Hughes takes the band through its paces with a truly unique take on Bist Di Bei Mir.
Other tracks feature a more direct reading of Bach’s music: Komm, süsser Tod (Come, sweet death. Come, blessed rest) the band maintain the heavy sentiment of the piece with Michelle singing in both English and German, finishing the piece in a classical vocal style in a duet between bass and vocals.
The Bach Project is a continuation of the band’s Composer Series, which they’ve been undertaking for a number of years. Previous composers include Henry Mancini, Mancini (2012), Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn, A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing, 2017.
The Bach Project was initiated by the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, inviting the MNQ to perform for the 2014 Bach Festival. As well as a great composer J.S. Bach was also one of the great improvisers of his time, a perfect fit for their approach. The quartet’s arrangements showcase the mastery of J.S. Bach’s compositions and add a new flavour to the improvisational elements found (and sometimes lost) in these great works.
Michelle Nicolle is celebrated as one of Australia's finest female jazz singers. Nicolle started her musical career at the age of eight, studying the violin in the famous wine region, Barossa Valley. Now based in Melbourne, she also works as an arranger and band leader. Her accolades include: Bell Award (2017), Mo Award 2001, 2003 & 2004, National Jazz Award (1998) winner and ARIA Award Nominee 2001, 2004, 2009. The Michelle Nicolle Quartet, a highly regarded ensemble of jazz improvisers, are well known for their diversity of repertoire. With eight albums and many Australian and international tours under their collective belt, they are celebrating their 24th year.
About The Music
1.March in D(’Ornette)
This is a piece I played as a young violinist (most of us do). Being so familiar made shaping the phrases and extending the melody such a natural, freeing way to play this piece – imagining how it would sound on of our musical heroes, Ornette Coleman, were playing it. My favourite way to treat any melody, actually. So we’ve dubbed this March in D’Ornette.
2. Bist Du Bei Mir
“If you are with me, I go with joy” is based on the aria by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. Arranged by Geoff Hughes, when we play this live it often extends ‘out’ and is a huge improvisational ride. For the recording Geoff wanted a free section with the voice soaring and wailing. Lots of fun to do. But when I listened back, months later, I really didn’t like my bit at all. I asked Marc Urselli to cut me out, calling it, “Stuff of nightmares”. To my surprise, Marc’s fresh ears and years of experience responded with, “I thought that was the stuff of dreams, rather than nightmares, it just needs the right dreamy treatment”. The result is something I never imagined and I’m so grateful for the adventure he added to this track.
3. Fugue in Gm with ‘Round Midnight (Monk)
Whilst improvising at the piano on the opening phrase of “Little Fugue in G minor”, exploring the scale, I heard Ella Fitzgerald whisper in my ear (I wish) her beautiful, “It begins to tell ‘round midnight” from Monk’s incredible song. The rest of this arrangement fell into place within minutes. The challenge was then to actually sing the fugal section. That took longer!
4. Kommt, ihr angefochtnen Sünder
“Come, you tempted sinners”, this sacred aria is the most challenging of the pieces on this album for the intricacy of the melody, tempo and diction. I learned the aria in the original key of A and it was much easier to sing in that classical contralto range. But in order to create more of a ‘spoken’ range – a ‘jazz range’ I transposed it into F major, therefore creating the obstacle of navigating both registers whilst trying to ‘free the lyric’ up as in a jazz song. Thank goodness for our stunning engineer Niko Schauble, a native German speaker, and his invaluable coaching me out of my high school “Barossa Deutsch”. This song is the only track that we hadn’t played live before the recording.
5. Komm, süsser Tod
“Come sweet death” being such a heavy song -both musically and lyrically, I wanted to be able to convey the weight of its meaning. Although I learned German at school and in studying singing, I wanted to also sing the English lyric in the range where I speak, and approach it slightly like a ‘jazz standard’. The arrangement moves through 3 movements and keys, ending in the original key where I tap into my ‘classical’ voice in a duet with Tom Lee (bass). Intimate and exposed, I’m hoping to convey the longing for rest in death and Heaven.
6. Minuet in G
Almost in my DNA, I remember nutting this melody out on my Nanna’s Lowrey organ when I was really little. It normally exudes ‘majorness’. Improvising on this piece led me down a more minor vibe, hence the change from minor to major throughout.
7. Sarabande (from Partita No.1) with Lonely Woman (Silver)
Tom Lee brought this idea to rehearsal of morphing from the sad, longing melody of this Violin Partita No.1 into the equally moving melody of Horace Sliver’s Lonely Woman – which was already in our repertoire (and recorded on a previous album, The Loveliest Night). The B minor key being such a lovely yet sorrowful key.
8. Musette in D Major
All of this arrangement came from my improvising for ages on this tune at the piano – working myself further ‘out’ from the cheery brightness of the D major into some more suspended harmony and metric modulation. The evolution of this piece has come from us really stretching out playing this live, joyously and wildly! I absolutely love Geoff’s solo on this tune and the ensemble playing that only comes from playing together for many years.
Album: The Bach Project
Release: 7 July 2023
Personnel: Michelle Nicolle (vocals), Geoff Hughes (guitar), Tom Lee (double bass) and Ronny Ferella (drums)
Catalogue Number: EAR079
Streaming/Download: https://ffm.to/thebachproject
https://michellenicolle.bandcamp.com/album/the-bach-project