Modern Jazz Quartet | Artist
The Modern Jazz Quartet was an American jazz group formed 1952 in New York City by John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath (double bass), and Connie Kay (drums). They played music influenced by classical, cool jazz and bebop, and were one of the first small jazz combos to perform in concert halls rather than nightclubs. Two of the four founding members, John Lewis and Kenny Clarke, met and first performed together in 1944 while stationed with the US army in France during WWII. In 1946, back in New York, Clarke joined his friend Dizzy Gillespie's big band and brought in Lewis to replace Thelonius Monk. On Gillespie's encouragement, they began to perform improvised numbers as a standalone unit between sets of big band music. They recorded as the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951 and Brown left the group, being replaced on bass by Heath. During the early 1950s they became the Modern Jazz Quartet and they made several recordings with Prestige Records including two of their best-known compositions "Django" and "Bags' Groove". Clarke left the group in 1955 and was replaced by drummer Connie Kay. In 1956 they moved to Atlantic Records and made their first tour to Europe where they recorded for South German Radio, performed on a month-long Birdland All-Star tour with Bud Powell, Miles Davis and Lester Young, and had a two-week residency at Club Saint-Germain in Paris. The next year they returned to Europe on their own, performing 88 concerts in four months in Germany, France, and the British Isles, receiving rave reviews. Under Lewis's direction the MJQ carved their own niche in jazz by specializing in elegant, restrained music that used sophisticated counterpoint inspired by baroque music, yet still retaining a strong blues feel. As a recording unit the MJQ released over 50 studio albums plus numerous live albums, before finally disbanding in 1997. A selection of essential albums includes Fontessa (1956), Pyramid (1960), Third Stream Music (1960), Collaboration With Laurindo Almeida (1964), Plays George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (1965), and European Concert (1960). In the late Sixties the group moved temporarily from Atlantic to the Beatles' Apple Records, the only jazz group to appear on that label. They released the albums Under the Jasmin Tree (1968) and Space (1969), both produced by John Lewis. Late in his career bassist Percy Heath recalled the conversation between group members in Milt Jackson's Cadillac on the way home from a nightclub date that led to the creation of the group: "John had this idea to write different music for the instruments that were in the quartet, and wrote "Vendome" and a few other very orchestrated pieces. We became a partnership, a corporation. John's vision for the group was to change the music from just a jam session, or rhythm section and soloist idea, to something more. We were all equal members, and the dress, the wearing of tuxedos, and trying to perform in concert rather than always in nightclubs, was part of what he envisioned to change the whole attitude about the music." The Modern Jazz Quartet earned a variety of honours, including the first NAACP award for cultural contributions in the field of music in 1957, top billing on numerous jazz magazine polls, and honorary doctorates from Berklee College.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Modern_Jazz_Quartet
Featured Albums: Modern Jazz Quartet
Related Artists: Milt Jackson, Percy Heath
