Classically Cool

When I was in college in the early 60's, there was plenty of music around. There was pop and Motown, the last years of doo-wop, the rising tide of folk, the emergence of the Beach Boys and the Beatles – and jazz, lots of jazz. The post-bop cool was king, including West Coast types like Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck, Miles pre-Bitches Brew and more. Even preppies and fratboys who didn't really dig jazz had to be able to talk about it and the issue of Playboy that contained the annual Jazz poll was valuable info, passed around even if someone had already removed the centerfold. My school had several "big weekends" each year and one of the features was a major act on the college circuit. We had people like Ray Charles, Maynard Ferguson w/band, and the unusually far-out Roland Kirk (who always got Playboy props for playing the stritch and the manzello, sometimes simultaneously). And one weekend we had the coolest of the cool, the impeccably tasteful and elegant Modern Jazz Quartet.

Yesterday's listening was their combination of original blues compositions and takes on the music of JSB: Blues on Bach. I don't know of any other jazz quartet better suited for adapting Bach's compositions to their own style; there's a baroque aspect to the MJQ in almost all their outings (especially pieces like John Lewis' "Golden Striker" on the No Sun In Venice set), perhaps due in large part to Milt Jackson's vibes. The vibraphone's limited dynamic and tonal range makes it like a harpsichord in its role in ensemble playing, and Lewis' piano is never overbearing (he also actually doubles on harpsichord), seconding Jackson much of the time.

It's a fine, tasty set; the quartet bridging blues and Bach on alternating tracks. They don't demonstrate a natural link between the two (and I don't think that was their goal); what they do show is that when you're really cool, you can tune in to coolness in unexpected places, like 18th century Germany.