The Country Curmudgeon: Remembering the MJQ
By Roy Hicks
Thursday, June 18, 2009 10:13 AM PDT
A few nights ago, I was sitting in the quiet confines of my very private house in the deepest hours of night. Normally, I might be lying on the living room couch to drift off to sleep with the TV set, but on this particular night I was listening to a superb jazz album, originally recorded in 1974 by the Modern Jazz Quartet, entitled “The Last Concert.”
This is my kind of music, friends: the intricate, sometimes hard-driving and always eloquent combination of both East and West coasts from the 1950s and 1960s. I’ve never confided this before, but, at one time, I was a pretty good musician, playing all keyboards from piano to pipe organ, harpsichord, clavinet, electric organ and vibraphone.
During my younger years, my idol was Dave Brubeck, and I always patterned my several chamber jazz ensembles after him. In addition to my regular daytime jobs, I managed a second career as both a secular and church musician from 1967 to the late 1980s. I haven’t played for more than 20 years, but I can still appreciate the excellence of those fine old groups I used to admire and try to emulate, and the Modern Jazz Quartet was the best of these.
Listening again to that 35-year-old recording brought back a lot of fond memories. The MJQ was a superb combination of aging black men who had studied and practiced their art for a combined experience of nearly 200 years and got it exactly right.
Their leader, pianist John Lewis, was not an especially gifted keyboard player, but his sparse angular style was rather similar to my own. You don’t have to be a brilliant keyboard player to be a good leader. You need only to have a star-class soloist. The MJQ was blessed by the magic of Milt Jackson’s lovely and liquid play on the vibraharp, and they were backed up by the solid thrum of Percy Heath’s string bass and the whispering beat of Connie Kay’s drums.
During my brief professional career (1967 to 1969), I managed to surround myself with many fine sidemen, including a lead guitarist who had once played with the Jefferson Airplane, a bassist who was later to play with awesome pianist Denny Zeitlin and guitarist Jerry Garcia, and the subtle but solid support of a black drummer who had once played with the U.S. Army band. At our best, we were very good.
Listening again to those grand old men of the MJQ took me back 40 years. Hearing them play their sparkling “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” and their incredibly lovely jazz waltz “Skating in Central Park” literally brought tears to my tired old eyes.
Dear me, friends, how I’d love to play like that again! I haven’t played for a very long time, but I still have my magnificent Baldwin grand piano. Where my once strong, young hands could easily grab big chords on the keyboard, they are now rather spidery and weak and can barely trace the jazz tunes I used to play so effortlessly.
Still, I’d like to play again. What’s kept me on the sidelines for so many years is not having a solid bassist to work with. Among musicians, it’s said that a good pianist and bass player are the world’s best small orchestra.
A few months ago, I learned of a young musician who plays both acoustic and electric bass. With any luck, we might some day be able to play together. I’d like that a lot.
Roy Hicks, a Payette resident, writes a weekly column for the Argus Observer. Comments or questions for Mr. Hicks can be directed to: Roy Hicks, Argus Observer Newsroom; 1160 S.W. Fourth St., Ontario, OR 97914
