Jazz Reviews : MJQ Plays Ellington at Arco’s ‘Concert in the Sky’

Braving the heat and humidity, an unprecedentedly large crowd stood, sat or stretched out on the grass to attend Arco’s latest Thursday “Concert in the Sky” by the Modern Jazz Quartet at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

This was the group’s first local appearance since the release of its album dedicated to Duke Ellington. Much of the one-hour performance was devoted to works from the recording, arranged for the group by John Lewis.

Because many of Ellington’s compositions were primarily orchestral in nature, it might have been expected that something would be lost in the reduction to this format. It is a tribute to the ingenuity of Lewis that most of the pieces took on a character that was at once a re-creation of the original and a logical vehicle for these four brilliant interpreters.

Totally in character too was a new Lewis number, “For Ellington,” written for the album, and varying attractively in tempos and meters (from 3/4 to 4/4).

“Ko Ko,” a somber minor blues, found Lewis’ piano, Milt Jackson’s vibraphone and Percy Heath’s bass all attuned to the spirit of this almost 50-year-old masterpiece. Heath’s solos on “Jack the Bear,” a tune that elevated the Ellington bassist Jimmy Blanton to prominence, was based almost note for note on his recorded version.

Connie Kay, the quartet’s drummer almost from the beginning, added a delicate mood to “It Don’t Mean a Thing” with a series of rhythmically apt breaks. Jackson’s leisurely time feeling brought a fittingly gentle touch to “Prelude to a Kiss.”

As an encore Lewis turned to his own music for a revised version of the still beguiling “Django.”

It is remarkable that the MJQ, organized in 1952, continues to justify the adjective in its name. Remarkable but not too surprising, since it is obvious that these men still believe passionately in the irresistible music they continue to create.