| Django | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1956 (digitally remastered edition released 1987) | |||
| Recorded | June 25, 1953 (4–7), New York, NY; December 23, 1954 (1,2,8) and January 9, 1955 (3), Hackensack, NJ | |||
| Genre | Cool jazz Third stream Post bop | |||
| Length | 39:00 | |||
| Label | Prestige Records | |||
| Producer | Ira Gitler (4–7) and Bob Weinstock (1,2,3,8) | |||
| Modern Jazz Quartet chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Milt Jackson chronology | ||||
| ||||
Django is an album by the Modern Jazz Quartet, first released on 12-inch LP in 1956.
The actual sessions had taken place in June 1953, December 1954, and January 1955, and (as Prestige Records had yet to enter the 12-inch LP era) were first released on two 10-inch albums, entitled Modern Jazz Quartet (PRLP 160, 1953, whose second side contained "The Queen's Fancy", "Delauney's Dilemma", "Autumn In New York" and "But Not For Me") and The Modern Jazz Quartet, Vol. 2 (PRLP 170, 1955, containing "Django", "One Bass Hit", "Milano" and "La Ronde Suite"). [1] [2] The first session took place in New York, but the eventual Hackensack, New Jersey sessions were engineered by Rudy Van Gelder; the whole album was reissued in 2006 as part of the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters collection.
"Django" (like the other original material on the album) was composed by the group's pianist and musical director, John Lewis. It is one of his best-known compositions, written in memory of the Belgian gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. One other apostrophic tune is "Delauney's Dilemma", a jaunty tribute to the French jazz critic Charles Delaunay. The lengthy "La Ronde Suite", with discrete sections emphasizing each group member's contributions, is in fact a version of the standard "Two Bass Hit", written by Lewis for Dizzy Gillespie and recorded by, among others, Miles Davis on Milestones . Gillespie's own tune, "One Bass Hit", is also included as a feature for bassist Percy Heath.
Vibraphonist Milt "Bags" Jackson can be heard grunting and humming throughout the quieter numbers, which include renditions of the Gershwins' "But Not For Me" and the Vernon Duke standard "Autumn In New York".
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |  [4] |
Writing for All About Jazz, Douglas Payne described Django as "classic jazz in construction and execution" and said it was "the place to begin appreciating the many and great virtues of one of jazz's finest aggregates". [5] AllMusic's Lindsay Planer wrote that "In terms of seminal Modern Jazz Quartet entries, it is hard to exceed the variety of styles and performances gathered on Django." [3]
Milton Jackson, nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players.
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath, and various drummers, most notably Kenny Clarke and Connie Kay. The group grew out of the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band from 1946 to 1948, which consisted of Lewis, Jackson, and Clarke along with bassist Ray Brown. They recorded as the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951 and Brown left the group, being replaced on bass by Heath. During the early-to-mid-1950s they became the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lewis became the group's musical director, and they made several recordings with Prestige Records, including the original versions of their two best-known compositions, Lewis's "Django" and Jackson's "Bags' Groove". Clarke left the group in 1955 and was replaced as drummer by Kay, and in 1956 they moved to Atlantic Records and made their first tour to Europe.
Kenneth Clarke Spearman, known professionally as Kenny Clarke and nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents.
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants is an album by Miles Davis, released on Prestige Records in 1959. Most of the material comes from a session on December 24, 1954, featuring Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson, and had been previously released in the discontinued ten inch LP format. "Swing Spring" was originally released on the 10"LP Miles Davis All Stars, Volume 1, and "Bemsha Swing" and "The Man I Love" had been previously released on Volume 2. "'Round Midnight" is newly released, and comes from the same sessions by Davis's new quintet in 1956 which resulted in Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and three other albums to fulfill Davis's contract with Prestige.
Groovin' High is a 1955 compilation album of studio sessions by jazz composer and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. The Rough Guide to Jazz describes the album as "some of the key bebop small-group and big band recordings."
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, recorded on July 2, 1948, July 23, 1951 and April 7, 1952 and released on Blue Note in 1956. The latter two sessions were originally released on ten-inch LP as Wizard of the Vibes (1952).
The Complete Last Concert is a double CD live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at Avery Fisher Hall in 1974 and released on the Atlantic label originally as a double album The Last Concert (1975) and More from the Last Concert (1981) before the complete edition was released in 1988.
Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet is a 1956 compilation album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, featuring his earliest recordings for the Prestige label under his leadership, including four tracks performed by Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet, eight tracks where Kenny Drew and Art Blakey replace Lewis, Jackson, and Clarke, and one track with Miles Davis on piano.
Concorde is an album by the Modern Jazz Quartet, recorded in New York on July 2, 1955, and first released that year as an LP, Prestige 7005, with liner notes by Ira Gitler. The album was reissued in 2008 as part of the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters collection.
The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn Volume 2 is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1958, with guest artist Sonny Rollins appearing on two numbers, and released on the Atlantic label.
The Modern Jazz Quartet is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in 1957 and released on the Atlantic label.
Reunion at Budokan 1981 is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at their reunion concert at the Nippon Budokan in 1981 and released on the Pablo label.
Together Again: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival '82 is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982 and released on the Pablo label.
Miles Davis Quintet is a 10 inch LP album by Miles Davis, released in 1954 by Prestige Records. The album title is not to be confused with either of Davis' later Great Quintets. The three tracks on this LP, and one other, were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, on April 3, 1954. This was the first session for Prestige Davis recorded at Gelder's home studio, as he would all his remaining sessions for the label.
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins is a 1954 10 inch LP album by Miles Davis, released by Prestige Records. The four tracks on this LP, along with a second take of "But Not For Me", were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, on June 29, 1954.
Miles Davis All Stars, Vols. 1 & 2 are a pair of separate but related 10" LP albums by Miles Davis recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on December 24, 1954 and released on Prestige Records as Miles Davis All Stars, Vol. 1 and Miles Davis All Stars, Vol. 2 the following year.
Modern Jazz Trumpets is an album released by Prestige Records in 1951 with music by four jazz trumpeters: Fats Navarro, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Kenny Dorham. The album was released on the 10" LP format and includes the first recordings by Davis for Prestige.
"Django" is a 1954 jazz standard written by John Lewis as a tribute to the Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. It was a signature composition of the Modern Jazz Quartet, of which Lewis was the pianist and musical director.
