John Bayless is an improvisational pianist, whose latest album, Circle of Life, is a reinterpretation of Elton John classics, wrapped in the cloak of Bach.  Normally, a visitation of interpreted classics offers up its memorable gems for all to enjoy, however, in this album, the works of Bach are adhered to more than the works of Elton John.  This produces confusion, not only in the body of this review, but also in the reception of the music as it lifts from your speakers.

In the case of this album, Bayless utilizes recognizable titles from the catalogue of Elton John that includes hits like “Crocodile Rock,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Daniel,” “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Rocket Man,” and others classics.  As the album title implies, this is the music of Elton John in the style of Bach.  To achieve this, Bayless takes Bach pieces and interjects them into Elton John compositions, all on piano.  What ensues becomes an exercise.  The listener must now find and hold onto the Elton John melodies before enjoying the Bach treatments that Bayless lavishes upon them.  Results are somewhat difficult.

It took me several listens to latch onto the EJ notes and then find their recognizable order.  For the most part, I wearied in trying to wrestle and then extract the familiar EJ songs in order to allow the treatments to work their magic, which I’m sure is magic to some people.  In the liner notes, Bayless admits to being so caught up in the Bach treatment that he left out half of “Your Song” in the first take of recording and had to be set on the straight and narrow by the engineer.  In addition, he spends a large amount of writing on the fact that he is distracted by the internal play of the masters (Bach, Handel, Mozart) within his soul.

To be fair, John Bayless’ presentation of Bach on the piano within this album is excellent.  In time, you can catch the EJ melodies beneath the Bach.  When you do, it can be mesmerizing and, in the case of “Daniel,” for me, it was quite an experience.  The notes of this song as played by Bayless, takes on a deeper quality, and surpasses the EJ piano parts from the original.

But this might be a little too elusive for many to enjoy completely.