Search - Modern Jazz Quartet :: Under the Jasmin Tree

MJQ in their prime

BD Wong | USA | 01/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just couldn't let the lame, non-review below stand alone and give the impression that this is anything but a fine album. MJQ came to be on Apple in 1968 because Apple's business manager at the time, Ron Kass, was a big fan. While we may laugh at the naiveté of the ideal now, things were wide open at Apple in those days, so if someone there wanted to release an album by their favorite performer, regardless of genre or sales potential, by god it was released! This album is quite typical of the MJQ sound: light but not shallow, swinging, classically informed. A highlight is John Lewis's suite Three Little Feelings.



Oh, and to answer the question posed by the previous reviewer, this album features the classic MJQ line up: John Lewis-piano, Milt Jackson-vibes, Percy Heath-bass, and Conny Kay-drums. Man, that's sort of like asking who the piano player is in The Duke Ellington Orchestra!"

Great and missing album

leefan | usa | 08/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first reviewer clearly knows nothing about MJQ. 'Under the Jasmin Tree' was my introduction to them back in the early '70s, since when I have loved most of their work, John Lewis in particular. There is an excellent version of 'Three Little Feelings' on the 'Birth of the Third Stream' cd (which brings together some breakthrough 1956/7 album sessions with Lewis, Miles Davis, Gunther Schuller, George Russell, Mingus and others) but nothing can compare to Lewis' brilliant and understated piano version on this recording. Which is why I have been frustrated over many years not to find the original vinyl album released on cd. And now that it is out, unfortunately, it an 'import' only at a terrible price! How annoying! I will rush to buy it when it is released at a reasonable cost in the UK or US."