Four By Four: An Homage to the MJQ

The Modern Jazz Quartet—pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt “Bags” Jackson, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Connie Kay—stood as paragons of elegance in jazz. They created a sonic world where the formalism of European classical music met the soul and swing of bebop. With precision, grace, and quiet innovation, the MJQ carved out a refined chamber-jazz aesthetic that demanded listening not just in smoky clubs, but in concert halls. Their interplay was conversational, their improvisation disciplined, and their style utterly singular. They were, in the truest sense, architects of a sound that balanced intellect with feeling.

With Four by Four: An Homage to the MJQ, the young ensemble Vintage Jazz Quartet does more than honor a jazz institution—they reinvent the experience for the here and now. These four rising stars have internalized the MJQ’s language but speak it fluently in their own accent. Their approach is reverent, but never static. They use the MJQ’s timeless compositions as springboards, offering interpretations filled with spirit, surprise, and a freshness that can only come from youth engaged with tradition.

What makes this project especially poignant is the thread connecting past to present: composer David Chesky, who contributes two original works to this album, was himself a student of John Lewis. As a young pianist, Chesky was deeply shaped by Lewis’s quiet rigor, musical philosophy, and belief that jazz deserved a place alongside the world’s great concert music. This recording is, in many ways, a tribute from a grateful student to a wise teacher.

In the same spirit of musical brotherhood that defined the MJQ, Vintage offers a recording that celebrates history while moving it forward. Their playing is crisp yet heartfelt, elegant yet exploratory. They remind us that jazz, like all great art, thrives in the tension between inheritance and invention.

This is not just a tribute album. It is a conversation across generations, a nod to the masters, and a bold step by four musicians writing their own chapter in the story of jazz.

Vintage Jazz Quartet
Juan Diego Villalobos, Vibraphone
Sam Towse, Piano
Dan Finn, Bass
Danno Peterson, Drums