The Inspiration: In religion there is Mecca for Muslims, the Wall for Jews, the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and so on. These are places in the world where the vibrations are extremely intense and usually commemorate some historical person or event or special significance to a select population. Whenever possible, it is incumbent upon individuals who believe in something to make a pilgrimage to such a site. For musicians of all styles, one such place is the city of Leipzig, Germany. Specifically, it is the Thomaskirche, the church where Bach spent so many years as the choir master, pouring forth work after work for weekly masses and celebrations. While on tour during the mid-1990s with my group, we performed in Leipzig. The morning after our performance, pianist Phil Markowitz and myself went to that church. Fortuitously, an organist was practicing Bach at that very hour. Sitting there for a while, absorbing the feeling of the very room where so much creativity and beauty took place, was one of the highlights of my travels over the years. This piece was inspired by the master, J.S. Bach. The Composition: As befitting a piece dedicated to Bach, I composed a four-part chorale for the standard saxophone quartet. It is not a chorale in the formal sense, only expressively speaking. Using uneven bar lengths, I tried to create an unpredictable flow, since there is a preponderance of block chord movement. In concurrence with some of the ideas expressed in my book A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Melody and Harmony (Advance Music), I loosely followed along the lines of what I call interval categories. Letter A is built on seconds and thirds, letter B on fourths and fifths, letter C on seconds, thirds and especially sixths, letter D on seventh and ninths. For my aesthetic, each interval category portrays a unique expressive atmosphere. There is no overriding theme or chord progression.