The Modern Jazz Quartet was formed in 1952, largely by the rhythm section of the Dizzy Gillespie Band. When these recordings were made, John Lewis was still trying to develop the Modern Jazz Quartet as a jazz chamber group, attempting to make a unique style of jazz, free of cliché. The motto of the MJQ was “Change your attitude.” Each of the thirteen tracks on this album show the ensemble’s unique and dignified style. As Andre Francis wrote of the group, the musicians are “a sensitive instrument which vibrates in the same universe of sound, achieving a communion unique in the world of jazz.”