JAZZ REVIEW : Standards, Blues by Jackson Quartet

Milt Jackson continues to divide his time contentedly between two groups with the same initials but contrasting styles, the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Milt Jackson Quartet. The latter opened Tuesday at Catalina Bar and Grill for a two-week run (off Monday, closing Aug. 13).

The principal difference between the vibraphonist’s own group and the quartet led by John Lewis remains what it has always been: Jackson as a leader allows for a loose, free-spirited quality, with a minimum of preparation, and a reliance mainly on standard tunes and blues.

These are not differences of quality but simply of character. Cedar Walton’s piano tends toward density and chordal complexity where Lewis, in solos and accompaniment alike, is more understated. In “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” Walton added harmonic nuances that Cole Porter, for all the song’s inherent beauty, did not provide. Walton also contributed an attractive original, “The Holy Land.”

Jackson’s use of grace notes, his slow vibrato speed and his affinity for the blues were all in eloquent evidence. On Randy Weston’s “Hi Fly” he engaged in a mutually inspiring series of four bar exchanges with the bassist John Clayton, who played bowed solos with his customary elan. The Charlie Parker blues “Au Privave” involved a similar sequence of trades with drummer Billy Higgins.

Whatever the setting, Milt Jackson remains what he has been since the dawn of the be-bop era, the preeminent artist in an instrumental category that has produced very few geniuses. To claim that he is playing better than ever would be to imply, unfairly, that there was room for improvement.