Modern Jazz Quartet - MJQ: The Golden Striker (2026) [Hi-Res]

MJQ: The Golden Striker captures a performance by the Modern Jazz Quartet together with the German chamber ensemble Kammerorchester Arcata Stuttgart, recorded in Germany during the group's 40th anniversary celebration. The program centers on compositions by pianist John Lewis, who throughout the quartet's career fused jazz improvisation with the discipline of classical form. The title piece, "The Golden Striker," grew out of Lewis's impression of the bronze figures that strike the bells atop the clock tower in Venice's Piazza San Marco: its steady, near-mechanical pulse translates the figures' motion into sound, while Milt Jackson's vibraphone and the composer's measured piano lines make it one of the group's signature works. The program's other centerpiece, the three-part suite "A Day in Dubrovnik," emerged from Lewis's visit to the Croatian city and traces the shifting moods of a single day — from the energy of morning and afternoon through a darker, more spacious atmosphere to quiet evening contemplation. Throughout the recording, the ensemble sound rests on Jackson's expressive vibraphone, Percy Heath's resonant bass, and the sensitive, flexible drumming of Mickey Roker. The result is not merely a concert document but a portrait of four musicians who, over decades, honed the rare ability to unite jazz freedom with orchestral discipline — a recording full of warmth, narrative coherence, and genuine mastery.

Tracklist:
1-1 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet;Kammerorchester Arcata Stuttgart - Alexander's Fugue (MJQ - Live Milt Jackson, John Lewis) [5:27]
1-2 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet;Kammerorchester Arcata Stuttgart - The Golden Striker [7:59]
1-3 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet;Kammerorchester Arcata Stuttgart - Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez [11:01]
1-4 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet - Three Windows (from No Sun in Venice) (MJQ - Live John Lewis, Percy Heath) [3:51]
1-5 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet - A Day in Dubrovnik Suite [17:12]
1-6 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Golden Striker (from "No Sun in Venice") (MJQ - Live, Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Radio version) [3:44]
1-7 Modern Jazz Quartet;The Modern Jazz Quartet - Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez (MJQ, Live, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Radio version) [5:01]