Modern Jazz Quartet

Genres:	Jazz
Descriptive "tags":	jazz, cool jazz, bebop, vibraphone
Decades Active:	1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s

Biography

Often described as the greatest small group in jazz. In 1951, four musicians who had previously played together in the Dizzy Gillespie big band formed a small recording group. Known as the Milt Jackson Quartet, the group originally comprised Milt Jackson (Milton Jackson, 1 January 1923, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 9 October 1999, New York City, New York, USA; vibraphone), John Lewis (b. John Aaron Lewis, 3 May 1920, LaGrange, Illinois, USA, d. 29 March 2001, New York, USA; piano), Ray Brown (b. 13 October 1926, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; bass), and Kenny Clarke (b. 9 January 1914, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 26 January 1985, Paris, France; drums). Brown’s place was soon taken by Percy Heath (b. 30 April 1923, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, d. 28 April 2005, Southampton, New York, USA), and by the following year, the group had adopted the name Modern Jazz Quartet. Although initially only a recording group, they then began playing concert...

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