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About Connie Kay

206

Extended Analysis

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings 1956-64

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
August 12, 2011

The Modern Jazz Quartet The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings of The Modern Jazz Quartet 1956-64 Mosaic Records 2011 They were diverse in talent and temperament. John Lewis, the quiet and determined westerner, who told sound stories with his linear and logical blues-based pianisms; Milt Bags" Jackson, the baggy eyed, Motor City vibraharp virtuoso; Percy Heath, the Philly bassist with deep, in-the-pocket basslines; Kenny Clarke, the bomb-dropping blacksmith of the beat from Pittsburgh; and Connie ...

421

Extended Analysis

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings 1956-64

by John Kelman
August 3, 2011

Even now, nearly sixty years later, it seems improbable that a group which came together as the rhythm section for one of the hottest players in bebop's genesis era, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, could morph into a standalone group that was the epitome of grace, elegance and cool dignity. But that's exactly what happened when Gillespie recruited pianist John Lewis (1920-2001), vibraphonist Milt Jackson (1923-1999), bassist Ray Brown (1926-2002) and drummer Kenny Clarke (1914-1985), giving the quartet an opportunity to shine ...

435

First Time I Saw

Connie Kay Plays the Drums Impeccably

by Rob Mariani
November 17, 2006

The impeccable Mr. Connie Kay plays perfectly. If you say that sentence out loud in a chamber where there is just the slightest echo, and emphasize the “p" sounds and the hard “c" sounds just a little, you get a feeling of what this remarkable percussionist's drumming actually sounds like. In all music, I don't think there's ever been anything quite like Connie Kay's cymbals. You could detect the ping of his ride cymbal out of a thousand--dry ...

678

Extended Analysis

The Modern Jazz Quartet: The Music Inn

by Elliott Simon
November 5, 2003

...in our desire for beauty in all things we are open, and one in our search for that little city of gold where the flute-player never wearies, and the spring never fades, and the oracle is not silent, that little city which is the house of art, and where, with all the Music of the Spheres, and the laughter of the gods, Art waits for her worshippers-Oscar Wilde In 1950, while Senator McCarthy spearheaded his anti-artistic witch hunts, ...

331

Album Review

The Modern Jazz Quartet: European Concert

Read "European Concert" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 2001

Ironically, The Modern Jazz Quartet's European Concert album finally is released on CD for the first time just before the passing of the third member of the legendary group, reducing the survivors to one: Percy Heath, who also is a member of one of the leading family triumvirates in jazz. Listed as one of the favorite MJQ albums by many of its fans, European Concert initially was released as a double-album package documenting the group's performances throughout Scandinavia in 1960. ...

158

Album Review

Paul Desmond: Take Ten

Read "Take Ten" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 1, 1999

As legendary a group as the Dave Brubeck Quintet was during the '60s, the fact remains that front line alto man Paul Desmond made some of his finest recordings away from Brubeck and on his own, first for RCA and then for CTI. His RCA sides present the cream of the crop of his recorded legacy, owing much to the fact that during this period Desmond chose not to work with a pianist but instead opted for guitar legend Jim ...