Modern Jazz Quartet

Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), American jazz quartet, one of the first and most important ensembles to combine group jazz improvisation with elements of classical music (see Music, Western). The quartet's refined ensemble sound, closely aligned with the style known as cool jazz, eventually came to be known as third-stream music. The Modern Jazz Quartet, also known as the MJQ, was formed in 1952 by John Lewis, piano and director; Milt Jackson, vibraphone; Percy Heath, double bass; and Kenny Clarke, drums. The quartet evolved from the Milt Jackson Quartet (1951), which included Lewis, Clarke, and bassist Ray Brown, veterans of the 1946 big band of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Drummer Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955.

Lewis's compositions featured his own understated, melodic playing layered against Jackson's freer, more rhythmically complex solos. The group recorded many of Lewis's compositions, including “Versailles” (1956), and “Three Windows” (1957), and “England's Carol” (1960), as well as pieces by American composer Gunther Schuller and French composer André Hodeir. The quartet favored dressing in tuxedos and performing in concert halls over the usual nightclub venues.

During its more than 20 years, the group annually disbanded during the summer, allowing members to play in other ensembles. Formally dissolved in July 1974, the MJQ reunited for a concert in November of that year, and in later years for occasional tours. In the early 1980s the MJQ resumed playing together for several months a year. The group's albums include Fontessa (1956), The Modern Jazz Quartet (1957), The Modern Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1960), The Last Concert (1974), and Together Again! (1982). Kay passed away in 1994 and was succeeded by drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath, brother of Percy Heath, in 1995.