Modern Jazz Quartet

Few postwar jazz groups had as far-reaching an influence as the Modern Jazz Quartet – or ranged so freely over the entire legacy of western music, and beyond. Their spirit of discovery and their chamber music ethos made them a natural fit for a festival as eclectic as the Munich Klaviersommer, and in 1988 a classic late-period MJQ line-up of John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay came to the Philharnonie am Gasteig with a set that ranged from Ellington and Strayhorn standards to Lewis and Jackson's own compositions. Contemporary jazz doesn't get more authoritative, or elegant.