This all-time great seller from MJQ s discography has been absent from American stores for many years. Special six-page digipak reissue, never available in the US before, features stunning pictures of MJQ live. Starting out as the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie s 1946 orchestra, the MJQ evolved into one of the most eloquent and long-lived ensembles in the history of jazz. The group s stability was a key factor in allowing John Lewis to achieve his goal of synthesizing jazz improvisation and formal compositional elements, sometimes drawn from the classical tradition, in a manner that seems totally natural and unforced. As you will hear in this recording their fourth appearance at the festical all four members of the quartet are master musicians and highly skilled improvisers, and they play together with an extraordinary empathy that makes them a truly unified ensemble.