For all its collaborative nature, the great groups in jazz are most often identified with the individuals who led them. We don't refer to The Hot Fives & Sevens, but rather Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens. One of Duke Ellington's renown early bands is known as The Blanton-Webster Band for its stand out members, bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. For every rule, however, there is an exception and for forty years one of the truly ensemble groups in jazz was the Modern Jazz Quartet, known informally as the M.J.Q.

The M.J.Q. was anchored by a quiet giant, bassist Percy Heath. Heath passed away last week at the age of 81. The M.J.Q. alone would have been legacy enough for any musician, but in a career that included at least 300 records, Heath's resume was a who's who of the greats including Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis...actually it might take less time and space to name the musicians with whom he did NOT record. It's worth noting that his career as a musician began after World War II during which Heath served as a pilot and member of the Tuskegee Airmen.

I saw Heath perform live once and only once, but it was a formative experience in my life. In 1981 I attended the Kool Jazz Festival at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. I was new to jazz at that time and was there to see one of my jazz fusion heroes, Chick Corea. He was sharing the stage that night as the first half of a double bill with the M.J.Q. I'm sure Corea was great, but the clearest memories I have of that night were of being mesmerized by the M.J.Q. and I have treasured their work ever since.

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