Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer of the Baroque era, and was highly respected as an organist in his lifetime. However, he was not highly regarded as a composer until late in the nineteenth century. Now, he is considered as one of the greatest composers of all time.
The Jacques Loussier Trio is a French jazz piano trio and known a bit condescendingly as "trio le play bach" after the title of their albums. Despite commercial success, they were generally panned by critics and jazz purist. When they recorded their first album in 1959, it shocked the audience - both classical as well as jazz purists. As a result, Loussier was classified as an "unclassifiable musician" in all of France.
Nevertheless, I think that they were brilliant interpreters of Bach - in the style of jazz!
This is one of my favorite albums, and I think the best of their albums. Loussier formed a new trio in 1985 with a different bassist and drummer which didn't hang together as well. So, get the recordings from the original trio of Jacques Loussier piano, Pierre Michelot bass and Christian Garros drums. This particular box set of their live performance recorded at the Theater des Champs Elysees is one of my favorites.
The various "Play Bach" albums are quite plentiful on line. I much prefer the original recordings made before 1978 by the original trio.
Mono & Stereo friend Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies, Inc.