Four Classic Albums (European Concert Vols 1 & 2 / Third Stream Music / Lonely Woman)

"European Concert Vol 1 & 2"; "Third Stream Music" and "Lonely Woman"
The Modern Jazz Quartet had an extraordinary career stretching from 1946 to 1974 and then again as a reformed unit from 1981 to 1993. Considered as one of the finest jazz groups ever assembled AVID has again returned to them for another release in our Four Classic album series. This time we have moved into the 1960's with a classic live album and two more experimental albums featuring the "mysterious" Third Stream Music! The European Concert is now considered by many to be the defining statement of the band as a recording and live unit. Third Stream Music finds the quartet in a more experimental mood joined for two tracks by the Jimmy Giuffre 3 and for another by the Beaux Arts String Quartet. Third Stream Music was an idea developed by Gunther Schuller a composer and French horn player that suggested a musical collaboration between the two worlds of jazz and classical. What some may call Chamber Jazz? The idea is continued on some key tracks on Lonely Woman, the title track being by the "controversial" jazz innovator Ornette Coleman who John Lewis was championing during the great man's early struggle for credibility and respect. Here the Quartet do not wig out or anything crazy but reveal the compositional skills of the man from Texas, what the original liner notes call "third stream and a half music". The album is thus a combination of the more experimental and the more recognised sound of The Modern Jazz Quartet.