The Quartet: Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke (The Modern Jazz Quartet)
The Modern Jazz Quartet (aka MJQ) is an anchor during a violent storm. It builds a foundation that fits perfectly to any mood one is expressing. I don’t know if this is hip music, but it is clearly cool. There are two classic lineups in MJQ: John Lewis on piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Percy Heath on bass, and the legendary drummer Kenny Clarke on drums. Connie Kay replaced Clarke, and this lineup lasted for a great deal of time. The existence of an actual band is from 1952 to 1997, 45 years. MJQ has worked with numerous other jazz artists, such as The Swingle Singers and Sonny Rollins, among others.
Speaking of a social music movement, not on music merits, BeBop Jazz is very much the Punk Rock of its era. Big Band/Swing music was prominent but not moving forward, and it took musicians from that era, or once in big bands, to start with smaller combos, as well as participating in after-hours nightclubs jamming away, and not thinking of the commercial market of the time. BeBop, focusing on improved music based on a melody or beat, is more orientated as listening to music than dance music. I'm not saying one can’t dance to BeBop, but it is the avant-garde mirror to the Swing Era of Jazz. BeBop, of course, has its visual aspects, but overall, the music is the most crucial aspect of that genre of music. Especially in France, a culture that seemed to take Jazz at its highest state of aesthetic, it was very much involved or drawn into the traditional Jazz vs. BeBop. Someone like Charlie Parker, the iconic symbol of BeBop, is only considered Jazz; however, one defines it as all music. Most of the musicians were not drawn into little battle corners of their world, but there was a bridge between the world of Swing and Bebop, and it was a respected pathway used by musicians on both sides of that world.
MJQ, in a funny way, was a reaction to BeBop by being extra-conservative, and I think of their music as almost a Baroque approach to Jazz. They presented themselves as a band that would play in concert halls instead of nightclubs and dress wonderfully clean. The music will swing and, of course, have traces of BeBop, but its aesthetic or style is one of quietness and smooth interpretation of melodies. MJQ reminds me of Booker T. and the MGs in that they are the Jazz version of a groove that seems part of their DNA and organic sounding. If I were a DJ, I would play MJQ and The MGs in the same set because I think those two bands can have a dialog of some sort. And the original British 60’s Mod Movement loved both bands.
For me, what makes MJQ go is Milt Jackson’s Vibes. The tension between John Lewis’s piano and the Vibes is an exciting dialogue among themselves, which we are privileged to overhear. Lewis does solo, but Jackson is the overly prominent sound in the band. The band frames Jackson’s approach to the melody, and like in the BeBop mode of working, he goes into the melody and explores all the elements between and on the notes. The music they play is romantic, but not in a cliché manner, because it explores feelings and all the shadowings that exist in love. The Quartet is either the first album or, at the very least, an early album from MJQ; from the beginning, its sophistication, style, and elegant beauty are very much part of their trademark sound, but nevertheless sublime.