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The Modern Jazz Quartet: European Concert
by AAJ Staff
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. ...
Continue ReadingMilt Jackson: Sunflower
by Douglas Payne
After years on the road with the Modern Jazz Quartet and a series of sterling solo and all-star jazz performances, vibraphonist Milt Jackson decided it was time to see some green. Watching kids half his age, possessing half his talent, earn millions playing rock, he insisted he could earn more without the restraints of the MJQ. He sought out Creed Taylor in 1972 and Sunflower became his first (and best) of three CTI albums. The album is significant ...
Continue ReadingMilt Jackson: In A New Setting
by Douglas Payne
For someone like Milt Jackson to declare this a new setting is really saying something. After all, the ageless vibraphonist has recorded in countless small groups capable of any style as well as in big bands, with strings, as a vocalist and as a guitarist too. What's new in this recently reissued 1964 quintet session is the surprising - and surprisingly complimentary - addition of pianist McCoy Tyner (who recorded A Love Supreme the same month).The rest of the group ...
Continue ReadingMilt Jackson meets the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: Explosive!
by Jim Santella
Vibraphonist Milt Jackson, 76, formed the roots of the Modern Jazz Quartet almost fifty years ago. That same lyrical quality that drives the MJQ stands before the fourteen-year-old Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, sharing, blending, and coaxing the melodies out of his vibraphone’s metal bars. The microphones are set up so that the listener has the same opportunity as one who is seated front and center, about seven rows back; piano and drums are on the left, while most of the horns ...
Continue ReadingMilt Jackson/The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: Explosive!
by Douglas Payne
In a recording career that's spanned more than half a century, the masterful vibraphonist Milt Jackson has seldom been less than flawless. For Explosive!, his fifth disc on Quincy Jones's well-distributed Qwest label, Jackson is suitably teamed with the well-populated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. It too, is no exception; offering a sterling collection of Jackson's pleasing blend of blues and ballads.Jackson has only recorded with big bands on a surprisingly infrequent basis (his Verve recordings with Ray Brown, two ...
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