Modern Jazz Quartet was a pivotal figure in jazz’s development in the 1950s. Although they were officially disbanded in 1974 they have reformed several times for concerts and recordings, making them an “evergreen” jazz group. This was not always the case.
The Modern Jazz Quartet was initially formed as the Milt Jackson Quartet. It had the same initials, MJQ, and featured Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke, and John Lewis on piano. Clarke, the most experienced member of the group, was a drummer who had played at Minton’s after hours club in 1939. There, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Giillespie, Thelonious monk, Charlie Christian, and Clarke created “bebop”, or bop, which is a challenging and harmonically advanced form of new jazz.
Clarke was a soldier in the Army during World War II. He met John Lewis at the University of New Mexico, where he had just graduated from music and anthropology classes. Both Clarke and Milt Jackson met in 1946 when they joined the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra. This was the only big-bop band. Only two jazz musicians had been known to play this electrified instrument: Red Norvo (whose early 1950s trio with guitarist Tal Farlowe, bassist Charles Mingus and guitarist Tal Farlowe catapulted him into modern jazz) and Lionel Hampton (famous in the ’30s for his work with Benny Goodman). Jackson was the first person to use the instrument in a bop setting. They also met Ray Brown, a bassist that appears on early MJQ recordings.
Clarke and Lewis were also part of the Miles Davis Nonet sessions in 1948 and 1949 for Capitol, later known as Birth of the Cool. Although Davis was nominally the leader of the group, it was also a composer/arranger’s ensemble that showcased the writings of John Lewis, Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan and John Carisi. Lewis composed two originals and arranged three more pieces for the band. Jackson recorded during this time for Blue Note Prestige, Savoy and Prestige, all important but small jazz labels.
The MJQ was founded in 1952. Its first recording was the 10-inch Prestige record, Modern Jazz Quartet with Milt Jack (PRLP-165), released in 1953. This album is currently valued at between $60 and $150 depending on its condition. The same year saw the release of Modern Jazz Quartet Volume 2 (PRLP-170), a 10-inch LP with the same value. The MJQ released two 12-inch albums in 1955, Concorde for Prestige ($30 to $75) and Modern Jazz Quartet (MG-12046) ($20- $50). Connie Kay replaced Clarke as drummer and set the stage for the rest the MJQ’s history.
1956 was the year that everything fell into place for the group. This was due to Atlantic Records’ signing. Atlantic Records was the result of the Ertegun brothers’ enthusiasms. They were the sons of Turkish diplomats and loved R&B music. Atlantic recorded Ray Charles and Ruth Brown as singles. They also established a jazz program on LPs. Atlantic, unlike Savoy and Prestige (and to a lesser degree, Blue Note), which are known for recording jam sessions, spent time preparing for each album. Many of Atlantic’s jazz albums were ambitious.
This was reflected in Fontessa (1231), the first Atlantic album by MJQ. The title track was more than 11 minutes long, and it was a complete suite, not an extended jam. The music was inspired by Lewis’s Baroque and Renaissance music studies and featured fugues and counterpoint melodies. All of this was done with great swing. Fontessa’s popularity and widespread sales of subsequent Atlantic MJQ albums have resulted in a value of only $16-40, with most subsequent albums being even lower.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of what MJQ did with this album and their subsequent Atlantic albums. They transformed jazz. They pioneered the movement to bring jazz out of smoky bars and make it accessible in concert settings – which helped “legitimize” a genre of music that many considered unreliable and inappropriate for polite company. Their music was called “chamber jazz”, which you could listen to in your living room. However, Lewis’s baroque excursions were balanced by Jackson’s blues-drenched vibes that could simultaneously weave an intricate counterpoint with the piano’s lines. This gave Lewis the opportunity to play a spare piano without any florid ornamentation and allowed for the vibes and the bass to shine. Kay kept his beat, as did most bop drummers. The MJQ’s overall sound was fluid and light.
Prestige reissued its second 10-inch MJQ LP, and half of its first as the 12-inch Django (PRLP-70557), ($30 to $70 each) in the same year. Django was Lewis’s compositional tribute for Django Reinhardt the great Gypsy guitarist. It’s a beautiful melody that has become a jazz standard.
The vast majority of MJQ albums were released on the Atlantic label. However, Patterns was released in 1960 by United Artists (UAL-4072 mono; UAS-5072 stereo; valued between $8 and $25; the highest price for the mono release is $8 to $25). This album was a soundtrack from Odds Against Tomorrow. It was re-released on Solid State in 1968, but it was renamed The Modern Jazz Quartet On-Tour, SS-18355, and is now valued at $4-10.
The MJQ signed the Beatles’ Apple label in 1968. They released Under The Jasmine Tree in 1968 and Space in 1969. Both albums are worth $8 to $25. They signed to Norman Granz’s Pablo label. This label has released and recorded reunion concerts since the 1980s. Many, but not all, of their Atlantic output have been made available on CD.