Modern Jazz Quartet, Royal Festival Hall, London (GB) - 23 sept. 1961

The MJQ were very popular at this time though there were those who didn't like the quiet, restrained, approach of their music, the opposite of the kind of barnstorming some people associate with jazz. Yes, they were low-key and even formal, in the way they dressed and conducted themselves as well as in the music, but the compositions (mainly by Lewis) were never less than interesting and they were master improvisers. The rhythm, the swing, were impeccable. They were Milt Jackson vibraphone, John Lewis piano, Percy Heath double bass and Connie Kay drums. They played Ralph’s New Blues, Trieste, Fugato from Original Sin, How High the Moon, The Golden Striker, If I Were Eve, Pierrot, Bel, Odds against Tomorrow, It Don’t Mean a Thing, Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman, Piazza Navona, Columbine, Concorde, Why Are You Blue, Animal Dance, Bags’ Groove.