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Title: The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Best Of The Modern Jazz Quartet
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1970, Cool Jazz, Chamber Jazz, Third Stream, New York, New York 9/26
Matrix #: SD 1546
Condition: EX (LM) | Members: Milt J (23' - 99'), John L (20' - 01'), Percy H (23' - 05'), Connie K (27' - 94')
Cultural Facts:

1. Born Inside Dizzy's Band: The roots of the Modern Jazz Quartet came from musicians who had played together in Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Milt Jackson, John Lewis and their colleagues began performing separately during breaks, eventually turning a rhythm-section side project into one of jazz's longest-running groups.

2. Jazz in the Concert Hall: Pianist John Lewis wanted the group treated with the seriousness of a chamber ensemble, not background music for a nightclub. The MJQ became famous for formal clothing, carefully structured concerts and a blend of improvisation with European classical ideas that helped open concert halls to modern jazz.

3. A Decade on One Record: This 1970 anthology reaches from the 1956 recording of “Fontessa” through 1966 performances, including “Django,” “Bag's Groove” and “Pyramid.” “Django” was John Lewis' elegy for guitarist Django Reinhardt, whom Lewis deeply admired despite the two musicians coming from very different musical worlds.