The Modern Jazz Quartet Third Stream Music

The Modern Jazz Quartet - Third Stream Music (1960) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27307}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 210 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 84 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 117 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1960, 2013 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27307 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Cool / Third Stream

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. A seminal album that defined the fresh sound of a whole new generation in jazz – that "third stream" movement that was different from the cool jazz of the west coast, and the fire of New York! The style here follows that same mix of jazz and higher-concept elements you'd hear on other Modern Jazz Quartet albums for Atlantic – but the music is expanded here with some great help from outside parties too.

This is an MJQ album that, for most fans, is somewhat off the beaten path. At a time when they had left Apple Records to return to Atlantic, and when fusion was just getting started, the group incorporate more Brazilian music in the mix, and John Lewis plays Fender Rhodes electric piano on two tracks. While their laid-back, mellow, chamber-like sound is very much intact, the rules of sonic preparation had changed, and the band followed in kind. Drummer Connie Kay even adds a bit of R&B funk to the proceedings, as on the chunky opener and title track, which is very atypical for the group. One of two Lewis originals, "Valeria" is a light bossa nova, energized as it goes along, while the absolute beauty of "Romance" is marinated in waltz pace with accenting cymbal zings - the perfect candlelight-and-wine dinner music…

Christmas came early in 1971; in May, Atlantic released Plastic Dreams, the penultimate studio album from the Modern Jazz Quartet during their main, 22-year run as an ensemble. Of the MJQ's albums, Plastic Dreams has never been a critic's favorite, and was an album that mystified many of the group's longtime followers. First was the gatefold front cover, which featured a "plastic" image of a nude woman that was really pushing the envelope by 1971 standards; it was almost "indecent." Second, the liner notes by arch-New York jazz critic Martin Williams, while appreciative, really made you wonder if Williams was listening to the same album you were…

Having sponsored Ornette Coleman at the School of Jazz near Lennox, MA, pianist and composer John Lewis helped launch the controversial career of one of the last great innovators in jazz. Lewis' support of the ragtag Texas native was somewhat unique in jazz circles at the time and even surprising, especially considering the gulf between the classical jazz formality of his group the Modern Jazz Quartet and Coleman's radical notions of free improvisation. Nevertheless, Lewis not only saw in Coleman the first jazz genius since bebop's Parker, Gillespie, and Monk, but put pay to the praise with the MJQ's 1962 rendition of one of Coleman's most famous numbers, "Lonely Woman." (Along with Art Pepper's 1960 version of "Tears Inside," this was one of the earliest of Coleman covers don.)…

Having sponsored Ornette Coleman at the School of Jazz near Lennox, MA, pianist and composer John Lewis helped launch the controversial career of one of the last great innovators in jazz. Lewis' support of the ragtag Texas native was somewhat unique in jazz circles at the time and even surprising, especially considering the gulf between the classical jazz formality of his group the Modern Jazz Quartet and Coleman's radical notions of free improvisation. Nevertheless, Lewis not only saw in Coleman the first jazz genius since bebop's Parker, Gillespie, and Monk, but put pay to the praise with the MJQ's 1962 rendition of one of Coleman's most famous numbers, "Lonely Woman." (Along with Art Pepper's 1960 version of "Tears Inside," this was one of the earliest of Coleman covers don.)…

One of the first Modern Jazz Quartet albums on Atlantic - a 1957 set that finds the crew in one of their freshest periods - laying down their soon-to-be trademark style in a fashion that warrants the self-titled tag! The set kicks off with a stellar medley of standards, all given the tight MJQ touch! The crew strolls through "They Say It's Wonderful", "How Deep Is The Ocean", "Body And Soul" and more in that 10 minute stretch. Other album highlights include the drum-heavy "La Ronde", a sweet reading of "Night In Tunisia", "Baden Baden", "Bag's Groove" and "Yesterdays".

Having sponsored Ornette Coleman at the School of Jazz near Lennox, MA, pianist and composer John Lewis helped launch the controversial career of one of the last great innovators in jazz. Lewis' support of the ragtag Texas native was somewhat unique in jazz circles at the time and even surprising, especially considering the gulf between the classical jazz formality of his group the Modern Jazz Quartet and Coleman's radical notions of free improvisation. Nevertheless, Lewis not only saw in Coleman the first jazz genius since bebop's Parker, Gillespie, and Monk, but put pay to the praise with the MJQ's 1962 rendition of one of Coleman's most famous numbers, "Lonely Woman." (Along with Art Pepper's 1960 version of "Tears Inside," this was one of the earliest of Coleman covers don.)…

One of the first Modern Jazz Quartet albums on Atlantic - a 1957 set that finds the crew in one of their freshest periods - laying down their soon-to-be trademark style in a fashion that warrants the self-titled tag! The set kicks off with a stellar medley of standards, all given the tight MJQ touch! The crew strolls through "They Say It's Wonderful", "How Deep Is The Ocean", "Body And Soul" and more in that 10 minute stretch. Other album highlights include the drum-heavy "La Ronde", a sweet reading of "Night In Tunisia", "Baden Baden", "Bag's Groove" and "Yesterdays".