The Modern Jazz Quartet

John Lewis	piano
Milt Jackson	vibes
Percy Heath	bass
Connie Ray	drums

The Modern Jazz Quartet is as sober-looking a collection of musicians as one would ever expect to see, but the atmosphere they project is not so much one of formality as of restraint. Lewis's shy little speeches introducing each number, Jackson's diffident bow acknowledging applause and Heath's air of intense concentration characterise the Quartet's dedicated approach to their music. The recorded work of the Quartet is inclined to be reserved to the point of fragility but, in their one-night stand at the Opera House, they projected more strongly to the audience, and the increase of volume was accompanied by an apparent increase in the intensity of attack. Kay especially, uses his drums to more effect, and pushes the other artists along with vigour. Nevertheless the quality of the music made the more "intimate atmosphere of the Opera House preferable to that of the Town Hall.

Lewis, the accepted leader, claims that the Quartet plays as a group, and certainly the influence of the group is very strong, especially in the case of Jackson, whose numerous recordings with other groups have a different quality from his performances with "the Quartet. There is the feeling that he is consciously restraining himself. Jackson, who began his career in a group with Charlie Parker shows the "Bird's" influence in his playing. In his theme "Bags' Groove," the first of the encores, he was encouraged to "blow" more freely, and the result was a peculiar synthesis of Parker's sound: the series of long, slow, thoughtful notes wihch Jackson holds on the vibes like drops of water from a tan. followed by the cheerful, off-hand run. Jackson with a blues is in his element: the group played one inspired by Mahalia Jackson at the end of the first half where Lewis and Kay set up a typical rhythm-and-blues backing and Jackson played a moving, funky solo which had all the quality of a spiritual. Jackson also had his tether in "How High the Moon," and after a studied opening to this hackneyed showpiece he swung into an up-tempo, Hamp-tonesque version that gave full freedom to his abilities as an improviser.

But aside from these showpieces the Quartet was integrated, and their most original work came from their lightly sketched and delicate impressionist arrangements, particularly when they exploited the rapport between Lewis and Jackson with carefully interwoven counterpoint and fugue, Mespecially in "Concorde." Their background music for the film "No Sun in Venice" projected atmosphere admirably, and we note especially Lewis's version of a bored cocktail pianist introducing random tunes. Lewis's own gentle sense of humour comes through every now and then: a droll little carol based on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with a march rhythm was one example, and a tongue-in-cheek rendition of the famous Ellington standard "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" was another.

The total impression was one of four gentlemen of jazz who are dedicated to their music. It is interesting to note that they have enough artistic integrity to insist on appearing on their own, instead of in a half-show supported by local artists. Brubeck complained mildly about this when he was here last year, and it seems un-necessary that artists of his calibre should have been coupled with local talent, when the M.J.Q. demonstrated completely that a serious, chamber-music jazz group can hold a Wellington audience interested and enthralled for a whole evening's performance.

—R.G.L.