**Ringer Release of the Week…**

The Modern Jazz Quartet
The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings of The Modern Jazz Quartet
(1956-1964)
Mosaic Records
www.mosaicrecords.com
By George W. Harris

It’s almost impossible to appreciate what musical inroads The Modern
Jazz Quartet made for, well, modern jazz! The team of Milt
Jackson/vibes, Percy Heath/b, John Lewis/dr and Connie Kay/dr (who
replaced Kenny Clarke after a couple releases) was essentially an off
shoot of Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, mixing advanced harmonies with
intricate solos. By adding John Lewis’ classical leanings, putting on
tuxes and playing only in concert halls, the MJQ made jazz respectable
without giving up any of it’s essence, and lasted 40 plus years doing
so. This limited edition 7cd set covers their most popular years, and
while leaving out a couple important concert releases, it more than
exemplifies the sui generis style of one of the most important acoustic
bands in the history of jazz.

The boxed set starts with the band’s classic Fontessa album, which
shows the foundational mix of classical (on the title piece) and
stylized bebop (on the ultra sleek “Woody ‘n You”). From there, seminal
releases like 1960’s Pyramid and Third Stream Music make a high water
mark of cerebral improvisation and soul searching blues, while jams on
“How High The Moon” and “It Don’t Mean A Thing” are as percussively
loose and swinging as anything you could hope for.

This set will also silence the critics of the MJQ who claim that all of
their music sounded the same. Included here to dispute that theory are
some of more of their ambitious projects, such as The Modern Jazz
Quartet and Orchestra, Plays George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, A
Quartet is a Quartet is a Quartet, and Collaboration with Almeido. The
Orchestra disc makes a lot of sense, as it mixes strings with the
chamber-like quartet to perfection, while A Quartet… delivers tunes
like “Concorde” with a small string section. Guitarist Laurindo Almeido
joins in with some wondrous Bach pieces on Collaboration, while the two
…At The Music Inn sessions have Jimmy Giuffre and Sonny Rollins mixing
it up to wondrous effect. Rollins is in his element on “Bags Groove”
and “A Night In Tunisia” while Giuffre’s low register is perfectly
suited for tunes like “Fun,” displaying the height, breath and width of
this wondrous band. This is music that is as timeless as the blues and
Bach themselves, and the combination of the two was heavenly sent. The
limited edition of 5000 discs also includes a wonderful booklet with
insightful writing by Doug Ramsey. Don’t miss out here.