Customer Reviews

Third Stream Music

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has always been my favorite MJQ recording; why it took so long for this to come out on CD is one of the great mysteries of the CD world. Now that it is here, anyone who has ever heard it will probably want it; anyone who hasn't heard it should get it immediately. This is the best amalgamation of classical and jazz forms that has ever been recorded by anyone. The composition and performance are both superb. It is a rare chance to hear John Lewis, Jimmy Guiffre, and Gunther Schuller, all unsung heroes of latter 20th century music, collaborating to produce an infinitely interesting and beautiful work. The second cut on the album, Fine, is cute, beautiful, and totally swings! Get this CD!

I wore out the LP and hadn't been able to find a replacement. I'm like Robert Feder. "Third Stream" has always been my favorite MJQ album. Now at long last, as Robert says, it's available as a CD. The music isn't just jazz with strings in the background. This is a genuine integration of jazz with "serious concert music." If you're primarily a jazz buff, don't let the blend put you off. The Beaux Arts String Quartet will enchant you, and the MJQ is at its quietly funky best here, pumping out insistent, driving, infectious rhythms and sparkling virtuoso jazz improvisation. The lively "Sketch" is my favorite cut.

Of all the albums by the Modern Jazz Quartet, this is the best. This album has passed the test of time over decades with the quality of its instrumental compositions, played by the best musicians at the top of their play, who are recorded with superior stereo separation. This is a go-to album for sophisticated jazz that is good listening. Both together and broken out, the various parts are fascinating. The album has intimations of the classical with the use of strings. This is not a play at high-volume, pumped up energy album. This is cool, a bit high-brow, a classy album in its own time.

wow. a stunningly accomplished album of cerebral jazz. truly unlike any other jazz that i have heard. there is a strong classical music sound in these pieces, a bit like chamber music. but bustling and flowing with astute jazz sense. the compositions don't come outright and strike the listener with their genius and flair; rather, these pieces slip inside the unused portions of your brain and settle in quietly and deeply and affect you from the inside out. a unique, challenging, and rewarding listening experience that demands many, many spins to fully comprehend and enjoy. Third Stream Music is a magical and mysterious recording that is inspirational and only grows better over time.

In 1960s jazz, there are innumerable names that made the decade in music so rich. So many movements and artists on top of those movements. For some reason, it has been easy for me to bypass the Modern Jazz Quintet's music.

But to let no worthwhile music miss my ear curvatures, I started exploring the MJQ with this, and it lives well up to its billing.
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Third Stream was a term for mixing jazz and high classical music and there is no shortage of this here. The key on Third Stream Music is subtlety.

This quiet music rests on the shadings of the drums and vibraphone, but with strings popping in and the musicians playing with the timbre and dynamics, the album is a study in listening, interacting, shadow and shade.

I don't know how indicative of the MJQ's work this is but I know something better: My beloved Beatles christened their green delicious with the a MJQ album and I have the big Apple looking at me right now. I am tired, but as the Modern Beatle Jazz release warms up in the bullpen, rest assured I'll be hearing a lot more MJQ soon. What is good enough for Paul's cigarette ash is pure gold to me

Third Stream Music is a foray into the crossover between jazz and classical music but done without creating an artificial or forced merger. If modern music has the connotation of being dissonant and cacophonous then there is none of that here. This album represents a unique musical statement that is very compelling and successful because of the talents of both the MJQ and particularly Gunther Schuller. Schuller is pre-eminently qualified to embark on a project like this because of his vast knowledge of musical history, his strong background as a horn player himself and his great respect and love of jazz.

The urge to meld jazz and classical music has a long tradition as the many composers of each both seek to explore new territory in a quest to keep the genres fresh by creating a new form that conflates the best of the two worlds. The differences between the two are basically that classical music has a long tradition of being frozen through notated scores and jazz being freer through heavy reliance on improvisation. Perhaps superficially one is cerebral and the other coming from the gut and more emotional. There are other distinctions as well in terms of technique, instrumentation and rhythmic structures but certainly not enough differences to make them incompatible if handled correctly as is done with these pieces.

To a musician and/or a composer both genres offer compelling reasons to blur the distinctions that may exist. Scott Joplin wanted Ragtime to be recognized as a classical form and Debussy was enamored by American jazz and did several compositions influenced by Ragtime music. George Gershwin was strongly influenced by jazz and its influence appears in many of his works. There are numerous examples also of jazz musicians who drew heavily from classical music mostly because many of them received their earliest musical training in classical music.

The two pieces on the album that represent this merger best are "Sketches" and "Conversation," combining the MJQ with the Beaux Arts Strng Quartet. In the classical music world all of the pieces would be considered chamber music. "Da Capo," and "Fine," combine the MJQ with the Jimmy Guiffre trio consisting of clarinet, guitar and double bass. These two pieces are probably the most improvised on the album and were both done in one take in the same recording session. It happens in music that the chemistry between the compositions, the players and the instruments is such that perfect little timeless jewels emerge. Oftentimes even the musician's themselves are surprised at what they have created. Such is the case with Third Stream Music.

So what does one come away with listening to these compositions? Certainly the improvisation is there as well as the structure of classical music. The instruments all complement each other and nothing seems out of place, forced or superfluous. Although only one composition is entitled "Conversation," I think that the whole album is a respectful conversation between two genres that manage to lay aside their differences and concentrate on what they have to offer each other through the skillful performances of the players. The integrity of the compositions is such that one does not feel that either genre is overpowering the other but instead work harmoniously together which is what music is fundamentally all about.

I first listened to this music when it was on vinyl back in the 1970's and hearing it again on CD it is still as fresh and as valid as it was when it first appeared. It has its place in any library of good music.

My favorite MJQ album and one of my top 10 jazz albums ever. You can listen to this album as often as you wish and it will still sound fresh and vital. The album is the best fusion of classical and jazz ever recorded. It will continue to satisfy and grow on you - I've been listening to it for 50 years and will never get tired of it. I can't count the number of albums I have listened to once or only a couple of times. This was one of the last MJQ albums to be put on CD but it was worth the wait.

Let me say I agree with all the positives on this CD. I heard it in Salisbury School in 1963, and it blew me away. I had never heard music like this. And I still play the MJQ's haunting, swinging, fresh music. Nine stars plus.