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MJF67, Sept. 27-29, 2024

Episode 9 – Aaron Diehl, 2014 Commission: Three Streams of Expression

Aaron Diehl’s 2014 commission piece, Three Streams of Expression, was dedicated to John Lewis, and contained the blues and Bach style that the Modern Jazz Quartet made famous.

The 20-minute work "provides a kind of narrative of the development of the MJQ and John Lewis' approach to composition," Diehl says. "Early on, with Ray Brown and Kenny Clarke, the music was very much in the bebop tradition, coming out of Dizzy. Then it slowly developed into a more chamber-like sound; The piece explores the zone where composition and improvisation meet and you're not sure where one ends and the other begins.”

Join Tim Jackson and Aaron Diehl as they reflect on the 2014 commission piece, John Lewis, and more for the 9th Episode of “Evolution of a Groove: The Monterey Commissions”