The Modern Jazz Quartet: 35th Anniversary Concert, and: The Modern Jazz Quartet: 40th Anniversary Tour (review)

These two DVDs come from the German company Arthaus Musik, which specializes in classical performances. Fortunately, they have expanded their scope to jazz concerts such as these—while their jazz catalog is still somewhat limited, the archive of film and tape from European television broadcasts of jazz over the last fifty years is incredibly extensive.

The two performances here are excellent documents of a seminal group in its final years. While age is clearly catching up with the individual performers, the group dynamic was never more fully realized. Seeing the interaction of the Modern Jazz Quartet on stage is a lesson in sympathetic musical conversation of the highest order, and thankfully the camera work is such that the audience can partake of the communication between John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay on the first disc. By the second disc in 1992, Kay was already suffering from declining health (he died in 1994) and was replaced by Mickey Roker, who was called on to fill in frequently during that time.

The 1987 concert shows the quartet in pristine form presenting a mix of standards and MJQ originals. The first number, “Rockin’ In Rhythm,” is a superb performance, allowing all four musicians to stretch out on a straight-ahead tune that also has much interplay. Similarly, Jackson’s “Bags’ Groove” is a blues allowing each member to develop longer, more cohesive solo statements. Lewis’ compositions, especially “Kansas City Breaks” and the multi-section “A Day In Dubrovnik” are more formal works with improvisations woven into the texture.

One of the final MJQ recordings was the Stuttgart concert from 1992, found on the second DVD. The focus of this concert was not as much on the individual musicians (although there are certainly many great moments) as on the compositions—all but one of which were by Lewis. The MJQ is here accompanied by a chamber orchestra, and although the notes give no indication of who did the arrangements, the assumption is that Lewis was responsible for those as well.

The first two pieces are “Three Windows” and “Sketch” and are accompanied only by strings. The string arrangements are quite spare and restricted to simple voicings and very little melodic material. The remaining three tracks utilize the full orchestra and the colors provided by the winds are a welcome timbre change from the crystalline purity of the strings and the quartet itself. Especially notable is “Adagio,” which features the best solo work on the disc. Lewis provides the melodic exposition while Heath and Jackson create a fantastically intricate duet that blurs the line between composition and improvisation. The overall effect is quite different from the better known Gil Evans arrangement of this piece that featured Miles Davis. “A Day In Dubrovnik” compares favorably and interestingly with the earlier quartet version – both are about twenty minutes long, but the later performance is greatly enhanced by the orchestral backing.

While much of the MJQ’s output is considered “Third Stream” according to Gunther Schuller’s definition of the blend of jazz techniques and classical form, the first DVD is much more representative of mainstream jazz with the dominant emphasis being improvisation. The second DVD is much more clearly in the Third Stream camp—the orchestral arrangements obviously emphasize the classical elements that were so much a part of John Lewis’ musical identity.