The Modern Jazz Quartet: Concorde

Track

Concorde

Group

The Modern Jazz Quartet

CD

Concorde (Prestige 7005)

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Musicians:

John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibes), Percy Heath (bass), Connie Kay (drums).

Composed by John Lewis

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Recorded: New York, July 2, 1955

Albumcoverthemodernjazzquartetconcorde

Rating: 92/100 (learn more)

"Jazz fugue" . . . the very name sounds oxymoronic. One wonders: are there country-and-western fugues or hip-hop fugues? Then again, jazz is the musical style that digests all the other styles, and as such the jazz fugue proved to be as inevitable as it was peculiar. This was not the first example, and even John Lewis had tackled the form before on his less swinging "Vendome." "Concorde" reveals a smoother blending between classical form and cool jazz content. Chalk it up as a success. But much of the credit here belongs to the four men in tuxedos, rather than to the counterpoint written on the staff lines.

Reviewer: Ted Gioia

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