Northern Soul's Modern Monsters

In a perfect world, Curtis Peagler's Modern Jazz Disciples would have had a longer run and built a much larger catalog. But regrettably, the Cincinnati quintet is only a small footnote in the history of hard bop and gave listeners only two albums. The first was this self-titled LP, which was recorded for Prestige's New Jazz subsidiary in 1959. The Modern Jazz Disciples shows the late Peagler, who turned 29 that year, to be a hard-swinging alto saxman in the Charlie Parker/Sonny Stitt/Cannonball Adderley/Phil Woods vein - his hot-blooded solos on tracks like "A Little Taste," "Slippin' and Slidin'," and the standard "After You've Gone" make this record well worth the price of admission. Quite often, "After You've Gone" has been heard in swing and classic jazz settings, but the Disciples' version is pure bop…

Long considered one of, if not the classic album from the Modern Jazz Quartet, European Concert defines them simultaneously as a recording entity as well as a working band. MJQ presented jazz in the context of a formally structured environment, much like a chamber group in the classical context. Within the band, the groove of Milt "Bags" Jackson's vibes met the solid swing of Connie Kay's drums, the funky strut of Percy Heath's bass, and the elegant classicism of John Lewis's piano. The MJQ were able, in a context that pushed at jazz's boundaries from the outside, to create a music that swung without edges or fragmented harmonic structures. Instead - as this album perhaps more than any of their studio recordings exemplifies - they used concepts of time, space, meter, rhythm, and changes to weave together a seamless whole, where melody grounded the improvisation but never really restricted it…

Volume 2 of a double-length live set from the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet - recorded in Scandinavia in 1960, almost as a summation of the group's growing genius in the 50s! The tunes are a mix of John Lewis and Milt Jackson originals, plus other songs all given the wonderful MJQ twist - distilled into a sublime blend of piano, vibes, bass, and drums - all delivered with a sense of class, but never too much polish.

As part of their 40th anniversary, the Modern Jazz Quartet welcomed ten guest artists to their Celebration CD: Bobby McFerrin (brilliant on "Billie's Bounce"), Take 6, Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis (who gets to show off his technique on "Cherokee"), Illinois Jacquet, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Freddie Hubbard and Nino Tempo. As usual, vibraphonist Milt Jackson and pianist John Lewis also have plenty of solo space, and bassist Percy Heath is perfect in support.

After issuing 10" EPs for several years, Concorde (1955) marked two significant touchstones in the five-plus-decade career of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ). One of those was the replacement of co-founder Kenny Clarke (drums) with former Lester Young quintet member Connie Kay (drums), who joined in time for the other hallmark – this, the MJQ's very first full-length long-player. Kay remained with the combo for the better part of four decades, until his passing in 1994. The transition between percussionists is both smooth as well as sensible. Kay's understated rhythms and solid timekeeping are perfectly suited to the clever arrangements and sophisticated sound of Milt Jackson (vibraphone), John Lewis (piano) and Percy Heath (bass)…

A California-based blues bandleader, harmonica player, and singer, Rod Piazza's stratospheric harmonica wailings owe a heavy debt to both Little Walter and George "Harmonica" Smith. Piazza began his professional career as a member of the Dirty Blues Band in the mid-'60s, where he established his own technique and style that came to fruition on his solo debut, 1973's Bluesman. From 1980 on, he began playing with the Mighty Flyers, a band he formed with his keyboard-playing wife, Honey Alexander. Their boogie sound combines jump blues, West Coast blues, and Chicago blues. They have toured the globe many times and recorded more than a dozen albums, including 2014's acclaimed, award-winning Emergency Situation…

This album has an interesting concept, alternating four original blues with five adaptations of melodies from classical works by Bach. The Modern Jazz Quartet had long been quite adept in both areas, and despite a certain lack of variety on this set (alternating back and forth between the two styles somewhat predictably), the music is largely enjoyable. Vibraphonist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis (doubling here on harpsichord), bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Connie Kay were still all very much in their musical prime during the 21st year of the MJQ's existence.

Spanning one of the few transitional periods for the Modern Jazz Quartet when Connie Kay replaced Kenny Clarke as the group's drummer, The Artistry of the Modern Jazz Quartet covers the years from 1952-1955. By this point in the group's career, John Lewis was largely overseeing the quartet's repertoire, penning the bulk of the original material. Indeed, on The Artistry Of, the pianist contributes six compositions to Milt Jackson's one (the excellent "Ralph's New Blues"). The set is balanced out by renditions of the most common of jazz standards in "Almost Like Falling in Love," "I'll Remember April," and "In a Sentimental Mood," and the work of more contemporary artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins…

This 1956 record marked the beginning of the Modern Jazz Quartet's long and fruitful relationship with Atlantic Records and was one of their most inspired visits to a studio. While there had been excellent bands in the past that created a chamber-jazz genre, such as Red Norvo's trio, John Lewis's vision of a fusion of jazz and classical elements was distinctly original. It's apparent here in the controlled counterpoint of "Versailles," the extended first recording on "Fontessa," with Lewis's spare and precise piano perfectly complementing the looser swing of Milt Jackson's glistening vibraphone sound. The group mingles beautifully around Percy Heath's supple, melodic bass lines and Connie Kay's discrete and gently propulsive beat…