Modern Jazz Quartet – 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival

Starting out as the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie’s 1946 orchestra, the Modern Jazz Quartet evolved into one of the most eloquent and long-lived ensembles in the history of jazz. By 1963 the MJQ had been working together for nine years with the same personnel: John Lewis, its musical director, on piano, Milt Jackson on vibraharp, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums.

The group’s stability was a key factor in allowing Lewis to achieve his goal of synthesizing jazz improvisation and formal compositional elements, sometimes drawn from the classical tradition, in a manner that seems totally natural and unforced. As you will hear in this recording of the Monterey performance, all four members of the quartet are master musicians and highly skilled improvisers (Milt Jackson is one of the all-time great ones), and they play together with an extraordinary empathy that makes them a truly unified ensemble rather than just a loosely organized association of soloists.
 
1963 was the fourth year the MJQ had appeared at Monterey.

LINEUP:
John Lewis – piano
Milt Jackson – vibraharp
Percy Heath – bass
Connie Kay – drums

TRACKLISTING
1. Pyramid
2. In A Crowd
3. Mean To Me
4. Winter Tale
5. Bags’ Groove
6. I Should Care
7. The Sherriff