Modern Jazz Quartet: The Montreux Years (Live - Remastered) The Modern Jazz Quartet

• 1Ko-Ko (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1989)05:13
• 2A Day in Dubrovnik (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1989)15:56
• 3Django (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1990)04:51
• 4Blues in A Minor (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1993)07:52
• 5Bags' Groove (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1985)04:12
• 6The Golden Striker (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival,1993)04:18
• 7One Never Knows (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1987)08:27
• 8Le Cannet (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1985)08:38
• 9Nature Boy (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1985)05:16
• 10Rockin' in Rhythm (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1987)06:53
• 11True Blues (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1990)04:50
• Total Runtime01:16:26

Info for Modern Jazz Quartet: The Montreux Years (Live - Remastered)

A showcase of some of The Modern Jazz Quartet's most iconic Montreux Jazz Festival live performances, recorded between 1985 and 1993! The audio has been restored to the highest standards in 2023 and remastered in HiRes Audio.

The Montreux Jazz Festival takes place for two weeks every summer in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva. Created in 1967 by Claude Nobs, the Montreux Jazz Festival has become over the years an essential event, generating fantastic stories and legendary performances. In its 50 year plus history, Montreux has hosted iconic performances by artists including Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. This The Montreux Years installment offers up a showcase of some of The Modern Jazz Quartet's most iconic Montreux Jazz Festival live performances, recorded between 1985 and 1993.

Modern Jazz Quartet:
John Lewis, piano
Milt Jackson, vibraphone
Percy Heath, double bass
Connie Kay, drums

Digitally remastered

The Modern Jazz Quartet were incredibly important in the development of jazz in the 1950s, and although they officially disbanded in 1974, they’ve reformed for both concerts and recordings several times since then, making them now an “evergreen” jazz band. It was not always so.

The Modern Jazz Quartet was originally formed as the Milt Jackson Quartet (which, conveniently, had the same initials, MJQ) and consisted of Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. Of these, Clarke was the veteran of the group, a drummer who had been at Minton’s after-hours club in 1939, where Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Christian and Clarke invented “bebop” or bop, a harmonically advanced and challenging kind of new jazz.

Clarke served in the Army during World War II, and there he met and became friends with John Lewis, who was fresh out of the University of New Mexico where he’d studied anthropology and music. In 1946 both joined the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, the only bop big band, and there they met vibist Milt Jackson. Until then only two jazz musicians were well known for playing this electrified xylophone, Lionel Hampton (famous for his work in the ’30s with Benny Goodman and a band leader himself in the ’40s) and Red Norvo (whose early ’50s trio with guitarist Tal Farlowe and bassist Charles Mingus catapulted him from the swing era into modern jazz). Jackson was the first to adapt the instrument to a bop context. And also in Gillespie’s band they met Ray Brown, a bassist who appears on some early MJQ recordings.

In 1948 and 1949 Lewis and Clarke were also participants in the Miles Davis Nonet sessions for Capitol which were later dubbed Birth of the Cool. The group, nominally fronted by Davis, was a composer/arranger’s band, showcasing the writing of Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, Gil Evans and John Carisi. Lewis contributed two originals and arranged three other pieces in the band’s repertoire. During this same period Jackson was making recordings for Blue Note, Prestige and Savoy, all small but important jazz labels.

The MJQ was formed in 1952; its first recording was the 10-inch Prestige album, Modern Jazz Quartet with Milt Jackson (PRLP-160), released in 1953, which is now valued at from $60 to $150, depending on condition. This was followed the same year by Modern Jazz Quartet, Volume 2 (PRLP-170), another 10-inch LP which has the same value. In 1955 the MJQ made two 12-inch albums, Concorde for Prestige (PRLP-7005) ($30 to $75), and Modern Jazz Quartet for Savoy (MG-12046) ($20 to $50). That year drummer Clarke dropped out and was replaced by Connie Kay, setting the personnel in place for the rest of the MJQ’s career.

But 1956 was the year in which everything came together for the group, and this was due to their signing with Atlantic Records. Atlantic was the reflection of the Ertegun brothers’ enthusiasms. The sons of Turkish diplomats, they loved R&B and jazz. Atlantic recorded Ray Charles, the Clovers, Ruth Brown, and a number of R&B groups for singles, and established an ambitious jazz program on LPs. Unlike Prestige and Savoy (and, to a lesser extent, Blue Note) – labels known for recording jam sessions – Atlantic spent time on preparations for each album, and many of Atlantic’s jazz albums were ambitious projects. (Source: www.holeintheweb.com)

This album contains no booklet.