Biography of The Modern Jazz Quartet

The Modern Jazz Quartet is the longest-lived small combo in jazz and one of the most important. The group was formed by pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Kenny Clarke in January, 1952, although the four had played together in various configurations prior to that. From 1952 to 1955 they recorded for Prestige Records, turning out such records as Concorde and Django.In 1955 Clarke left The MJQ and was replaced by Connie Kay, and the lineup has not changed since. The same year, the group switched affiliations to Atlantic Records. Fontessa, released in 1956, was the first of 27 albums recorded for the label over 32 years.The MJQ's repertoire consisted mainly of Lewis compositions, and the pianist proved an ambitious writer, notably scoring the film No Sun in Venice (also called One Never Knows) in 1958, and in 1959 and 1960 taking The MJQ into the hybrid field of "third stream" music, a confluence of jazz and classical music, on Third Stream Music and MJQ and Orchestra.The MJQ broke up officially in 1974, though it continued to play concerts on an irregular basis until an official reunion in 1981. Its most recent new album at this writing is the 1988 For Ellington, though Atlantic released a four-disc boxed set retrospective, MJQ40, in 1991. ~ William Ruhlmann