Modern Jazz Quartet, The - The Complete Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige & Pablo Recordings

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Prestige/Pablo
Catalog Number: 4PRCD-4438-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 305:38:00

The Modern Jazz Quartet Complete Prestige & Pablo Recordings delivers four generous CDs totaling 54 tracks and a comprehensive explanation of their career on the two labels with a high quality beautifully illustrated booklet. Granted this is a lot of music to listen to in one sitting although when it is someone as significant as MJQ it immediately becomes an unforgettable jazz experience after the first disc.

As disc one serves as a great warm up to their career, disc two and three offer several legendary live tracks (recorded in Japan and Switzerland) for those of us that never had the experience of seeing them live in concert. The names reverberate and ring with consistency in the annals of jazz music to this day ? Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Percy Heath and Connie Kay, all of them are extremely important as band members of MJQ and individuals leading their own bands.

MJQ defined third stream and cool jazz with intricate melodies utilizing blues and classical as a motivating force. With a quintessential injection of the vibes provided by Milt Jackson, it changed the face of jazz culture forever. The vibraphone provides a delicate touch to any jazz track and Jackson's influence was a prevailing force in the MJQ lineup. It also goes without saying how their music took on a different meaning and purpose after Sonny Rollins added his impressive tenor saxophone. As much as it did change their band's musical outlook, I think it gave their sound an added dimension that effortlessly completed the musical circle. After the fourth disc is complete, you will feel that you have closed the circle. This boxed set is a real keeper and great stocking stuffer for the jazz lover in your humble abode this year.

Tracklisting:
Disc One: All The Things You Are (3:16) / La Ronde (3:10) / Vendome (3:15) / Rose Of The Rio Grande (2:17) / The Queen's Fancy (3:15) / Delaunay's Dilemma (4:00) / Autumn In New York (3:42) / But Not For Me (3:45) / In A Sentimental Mood (3:21) / The Stopper (3:00) / Almost Like Being In Love (3:26) / No Moe (3:32) / Django (7:04) / One Bass Hit (3:02) / Milano (4:25) / La Ronde Suite (9:39) / Ralph's New Blues (7:11) / All Of You (4:28)

Disc Two: I'll Remember April (5:08) / Gershwin Medley: Soon/For You/For Me/For Evermore/Love Walked In/Love Is Here To Stay (7:57) / Concorde (Lewis) (3:41) / Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise (8:00) / Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise [Live] (6:09) / The Cylinder [Live] (5:31) / Really True Blues [Live] (5:36) / The Golden Striker [Live] (5:50) / Odds Against Tomorrow [Live] (8:30) / The Jasmine Tree [Live] (3:40) / Bags' Groove [Live] (5:39) / Django [Live] (5:26) / Django [Live] (5:47)

Disc Three: The Jasmine Tree [live] (4:50) / Odds Against Tomorrow [live] (8:54) / The Cylinder [live] (5:38) / The Martyr [live] (8:53) / Really True Blues [live] (5:43) / Monterey Mist [live] (4:26) / Bags' New Groove [live] (4:34) / Woody'n You [live] (4:05) / Echoes (7:09) / The Watergate Blues (6:08) / The Hornpipe (8:19) / Connie's Blues (7:31)

Disc Four: Sacha's March (7:55) / That Slavic Smile (8:05) / Reunion Blues (4:11) / D And E (9:46) / Rockin' In Rhythm [#] (7:31) / Valeria (6:48) / Le Cannet (8:19) / Nature Boy (5:06) / Milano (5:54) / Topsy (4:42) / D And E (8:29)

Musicians:
Milt Jackson - vibraphone
Sonny Rollins - tenor sax
Connie Kay - drums
Percy Heath - bass
Kenny Clarke - drums
John Richard Lewis - piano

Discography:
The Quartet (1951)
Modern Jazz Quartet (1951)
The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays Jazz Classics (1952)
The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays for Lovers (1952)
The Modern Jazz Quartet (1952)
MJQ (1952)
Modern Jazz Quartet, Vol. 1: With Milt Jackson (1952)
The Artistry of the Modern Jazz Quartet (1952)
Django (1953)
Modern Jazz Quartet, Vol. 2 (1954)
Concorde (1955)
Fontessa (1956)
Modern Jazz Quartet at the Music Inn, Vol. 1 (1956)
Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn (Jazzlore, Vol. 15) (1956)
One Never Knows (1957)
No Sun in Venice (1957)
The Modern Jazz Quartet (1957)
Third Stream Music (1957)
Modern Jazz Quartet and Oscar Peterson Trio At The Opera (1957)
Modern Jazz Quartet at the Music Inn, Vol. 2 (1958)
The Modern Jazz Quartet with Sonny Rollins (1958)
Pyramid (1959)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Modern Jazz Quartet with Milt Jackson Quintet (1959)
European Concert, Vol. 1 (1960)
European Concert, Vol. 2 (1960)
European Concert (1960)
Dedicated to Connie (1960)
The Modern Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1960)
The Comedy (1960)
Patterns (1960)
Lonely Woman (1962)
A Quartet Is a Quartet Is a Quartet (1963)
The Sheriff (1963)
In a Crowd (1963)
Collaboration with Almeida (1964)
Plays George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (1964)
Jazz Dialogue (1965)
Blues at Carnegie Hall (1966)
Place Vend?me (1966)
Live at the Lighthouse (1967)
Under the Jasmin Tree (1967)
Space (1969)
The Modern Jazz Quartet on Tour (196?)
Plastic Dreams (1971)
In Memoriam (1973)
Blues on Bach (1973)
The Last Concert (1974)
More from the Last Concert (1974)
The Complete Last Concert (1974)
Little David (1974)
Reunion at Budokan (1981)
Together Again at Montreux Jazz [live] (1982)
Echoes (1984)
Topsy: This One's for Basie (1985)
Three Windows (1987)
For Ellington (1988)
Rose of the Rio Grande (1989)
Celebration (1992)
In Concert, 2-CD Set (1992)
Night at the Opera (1994)
2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West (1995)
In Concert (1996)
Fontessa: Ljublijana, May 1960 (1999)
Immortal Concerts (1999)
Live at the Theatre Royal, Bath (2001)
La Ronde Suite (2002)
Beginnings (2003)
Complete Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige & Pablo Recordings (2003)
Bluesology (2004)
Before Venice (2008)

Plus numerous compilations

Genre: Jazz/Trad. Jazz

Origin US

Added: November 30th 2002
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website:
Hits: 1926
Language: english