Original Sin (John Lewis album)

1961 studio album by John Lewis

Original Sin

Studio album by

John Lewis

Released| 1961
Recorded| March 27–28 & 31, 1961
NYC
Genre| Jazz
Label| Atlantic
SD 1370
Producer| Nesuhi Ertegun
John Lewis chronology
| Jazz Abstractions
(1960)  | Original Sin
(1961)  | European Encounter
(1962)

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Original Sin (subtitled Music for Ballet Composed by John Lewis) is an album in the third stream genre composed by John Lewis recorded for the Atlantic label in 1961.[1]

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [2]
DownBeat| [3]

The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer criticised the sound balance on the opening track – "it very rapidly becomes a concerto for cymbal and small band" – and condemned the inconsistency of the music: "The first variation of Part 2 is unabridged musical comedy pit band. But the tantalizing thing is that Variation 2 is a clever, self-sustaining, unified, and original little composition. Variation 3 sounds like a fashion show, but Variation 4 is a lovely, light, unpretentious piece, and Variation 5 is simple, stark, and well composed[,] reminiscent of Aaron Copland at his best."[3] AllMusic awarded the album 2 stars.[2]

## Track listing

[edit]

All compositions by John Lewis

1. "Part One: Creation of the World & Creation of Adam" - 3:53
2. "Part Two: Recognition of Animals"
1. "Introduction" - 0:47
2. "Variant I: Zebra, Lion, Camel" - 1:27
3. "Variant II: Walrus, Ape" - 0:52
4. "Variant III: Lamb, Leopard" - 1:48
5. "Variant IV: Rabbit, Skunk, Fox" - 0:45
6. "Variant V: Mountain Sheep, Deer" - 1:40
7. "Finale" - 2:10
3. "Part Three: Birth of Eve" - 3:48
4. "Part Four: Adam & Eve Pas de Deux" - 2:36
5. "Part Five: Teaching & Temptation" - 4:11
6. "Part Six: Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" - 2:46

## Personnel

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* John Lewis \- conductor, arranger
* Unidentified large orchestra

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Atlantic Records Catalog: 1300 series accessed September 21, 2015
2. ^ a b Allmusic listing, accessed September 21, 2015
3. ^ a b Mathieu, Bill (October 12, 1961). "John Lewis: Original Sin". DownBeat. Vol. 28, no. 21\. pp. 30, 32.

* v
* t
* e

John Lewis

Studio albums|

* The Modern Jazz Society Presents a Concert of Contemporary Music (1955)
* Grand Encounter (1956)
* Afternoon in Paris (1957)
* The John Lewis Piano (1957)
* Improvised Meditations and Excursions (1959)
* Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
* Essence (1960)
* The Golden Striker (1960)
* The Wonderful World of Jazz (1960)
* Jazz Abstractions (1960)
* Original Sin (1961)
* European Encounter (1962)
* Animal Dance (1962)

compositions|

* "Afternoon in Paris"
* "Django"

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