Personnel:
Sonny Rollins (ts), John Lewis (p), Milt Jackson (vib), Percy Heath (b), Connie Kay (d)
Reference: FSRCD 630
Bar code: 8427328606301
The sides on this set were recorded in the summer of 1958, during the annual three-week workshop course under John Lewis direction at the Music Inn, a rambling, relaxed summer resort outside of Lenox, Mass. The MJQ was the Inns jazz group in residence, and the two sides which bring Sonny Rollins together with the Quartet, and marked the first meeting on records of these musicians since 1953.
Sonny was in one of his more whimsical and sardonic moods that night. Sonny's unwavering insistence on funny produces a very interesting by play of reactions in the Quartet. Milt and Connie buckle down to some real great, swinging playing. Percy occasionally joins the fun, as in Bags Groove, where he plays, for instance, a typical «oom-pah» bass line with a funky swing. In Bags Groove, when Rollins enters with humorously disjointed parodies of Milts theme, John prods him soberly with beautiful sustained chords. John and Milt apply their unique talents via simultaneous improvisation. There are wonderful moments as the piano and vibe lines intertwine in the same register, causing delightful, subtle clashes that are the height of contrapuntal ingenuity all the more intriguing because they are spontaneous.
