Tribute to a Jazz Legend
by CAROLYN APPEL

Following the success of its big band concert in October, the Juilliard Jazz Institute students will perform on November 13, this time featuring the Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble. The Small Ensemble will be paying homage to the legendary jazz group, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and will feature its sole surviving member, bassist Percy Heath. To fully appreciate the presence of this jazz great in our community, we must look back at how the MJQ impacted upon jazz history.

Percy Heath

In the mid-1930s, jazz had become the popular music of the United States with the emergence of big bands such as those led by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Glen Miller, and many others. However, as the direction of the music began to shift in the 1940s to a more frenetic-sounding, improvisationally-based style called bebop, jazz lost a significant amount of its audience.

While small groups continued to emerge in the 1950s, a few began to merge together elements of jazz and European art-music. Educator and musician Gunther Schuller coined a term for this new style: third stream. The MJQ, representative of this development, continues to be recognized for its sophisticated sound, its chamber-music sensibility, its seamless melding of composition and improvisation, and its hard swinging groove.

The MJQ came about when pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and drummer Kenny Clarke got together in the early 1950s to expand their creative possibilities by working with one another. After some changes in personnel, the group stabilized with the continuing presence of Lewis and Jackson, and the addition of Connie Kay on drums and Percy Heath in the bass chair.

With their focus on highlighting the importance of the entire group (and dressing elegantly in tuxedos), the four men helped to bring jazz into concert and recital halls. Their flawless performances and dress stylized jazz and made it more palatable for mainstream audiences who shied away from bebop.

In total, the group performed for over four decades and made dozens of recordings for their fans all around the world. Juilliard’s tribute to the Modern Jazz Quartet will take place on November 13 at 8 p.m. in Paul Hall. The performance is free and open to the public, but tickets are required; they can be picked up at the Juilliard box office.

Carolyn Appel is an assistant in the Jazz Studies office.