Cashbox : 11/09/1957

The newly formed disk group is patterned somewhat after the Modern Jazz Quartet in its regard for classical development of thematic material. The main dish here, Take Three Parts Jazz, allows for notable expression of the combo’s ideas, while the remaining three items also further the listener’s regard for its inventiveness. Teddy Charles‘ vibe work is a highlight of these refreshing jazz tours. Interesting jazz shelf item.

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American Record Guide
Martin Williams : March, 1958

Because it has the same instrumentation, a comparison between this group and the Modern Jazz Quartet is going to be inevitable and the notes here plunge in with words about the MJQ’s debt to baroque composers and this group’s to certain modernists. Such an attitude, with its implicit patronizing of jazz and its possibilities, seems to me only to cloud the issue about the MJQ because its virtues lie elsewhere and those virtues make its classicisms possible, not the other way around. But were I to list vibist’s Teddy Charles‘ virtues, they would be for me largely technical (if not downright academic). Waldron‘s improvisations can be another matter, however, and his solo here on Friday the Thirteenth is a remarkable combination of intelligence, taste, skill, gentleness, firm emotional projection, relaxation, and a wonderful inner structure. It begins with almost casual understatements and gradually and subtly builds a melodic-rhythmic climax; it covers several choruses and shows Waldron meeting one of the most pressing problems of form that the young jazz musician must face, and meeting is superbly.

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High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : February, 1958

Using the same instrumentation as the Modern Jazz Quartet – Teddy Charles, vibraphone; Mal Waldron, piano; Addison Farmer, bass; Jerry Segal, drums – this group works in a looser format than the MJQ and leans more toward solo blowing. It’s a surprisingly colorless group except when Waldron moves into the spotlight, bringing much needed warmth and incisiveness. He is a constantly impressive and original performer and the merits of this disc are almost entirely his.

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New Hampshire Sunday News
James Parks : 11/10/1957

A new 12″ LP from Prestige records is titled The Prestige Jazz Quartet and features Teddy Charles on vibes, Addison Farmer, bass; Mal Waldron, piano; Jerry Segal, drums. This group, although patterned similarly in instrumentation with that of the Modern Jazz Quartet, is different in ideas and scope. The improvisation and inventiveness of Teddy Charles and the group on this LP are in a class by themselves. This is definitely a “workshop” LP and proves that jazz is strictly a class product that can be dished out in a classical vein. Excellent material for “mood jazz lovers.”

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Oakland Tribune
Russ Wilson : 03/02/1958

The firm that brought the Modern Jazz Quartet to public attention herewith introduces a group with the same instrumentation but of a quite different character. Where the MJQ resembles an extremely urbane group chatting in the club library, the new quartet could be likened to a foursome telling stories at the club bar. Vibist Teddy Charles and pianist Mal Waldron, two of the better modern writers, did the four extended numbers making up the LP. Bassist Addison Farmer and drummer Jerry Segal are their associates. If the group continues, it will be one to be reckoned with.

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Saturday Review
Wilder Hobson : 11/16/1957

The Prestige Jazz Quartet naturally finds itself in competition with the famous Modern Jazz Quartet. The instrumentation is the same – in the case of the Prestige there are Teddy Charles, vibes; Mal Waldron, piano; Addison Farmer, bass; and Jerry Segal, drums. Both groups are sophisticated musicians utilizing subtle jazz writing as well as improvisation. This first Prestige LP seems to me more original, and successfully so, than most of the MJQ’s work, and more spirited as well. The numbers are Charles’ extended Take Three Parts Jazz – which is full of personality and punch – Waldron’s rhythmically bizarre Meta-Waltz and his ballad Dear Elaine, and Thelonious Monk‘s Friday the Thirteenth. In the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet I have sometimes felt a finicky refinement which is foreign to the PJQ.

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Toronto Star
Roger Feather : 11/23/1957
Three Stars

This is a new quartet which, at present, is for recording only. Although this LP is good, potentially the group is much better. The obvious comparison to the Modern Jazz Quartet will lessen, I think, as this group grows. Both Charles and Waldron are excellent composer-musicians who write and experiment with various new and standard forms.

On this record, Charles sounds closer to Milt Jackson than usual and Waldron does not seem completely at ease. Farmer plays well but Segal is not a sensitive enough drummer for this group.

The major work on the album is Charles’ suite, Take Three Parts Jazz. It is fresh and well-conceived but at times, like the rest of their work, lacks direction or purpose. Waldron’s mutli-tempoed Meta-Waltz is interesting and his Dear Elaine is pretty but rather bland. On Monk‘s Friday the Thirteenth the group catches the rollicking mood and becomes more relaxed and inventive with this less ambitious tune.

Future albums should show more cohesion to their work and confidence in what they are doing. With this LP they have made a good beginning.

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Washington Post
Paul Sampson : 12/01/1957

In spite of the name, this group is not a copy of the Modern Jazz Quartet, although it shares the MJQ’s ensemble feeling and imagination in repertoire. In the PJQ are Teddy Charles, vibes; Mal Waldron, piano; Addison Farmer, bass, and Jerry Segal, drums.

Among the highlights are Friday the 13th, by Monk, which bounces lightly; Dear Elaine, a simple ballad in which Waldron creates a sound like raindrops spatting into a quiet pool, and Meta-Waltz, a successful essay in rhythmic variety. An auspicious debut for the group. Highly recommended.

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Down Beat : 03/06/1958
Dom Cerulli : 4 stars

Since comparisons of the PJQ to the MJQ will be made because of the same instrumentation, it should be noted that the same instruments played by different musicians do not a similar conception make. If anything, I found the PJQ a bit funkier, a bit more explorative, a bit less polished and a less fastidious-sounding than the MJQ. I also found a stronger dependence on the bass for melodic purposes, and on the drums as drums.

The hornless PJQ LP features Teddy‘s now swinging, now thoughtful vibes work, and the Three Parts Suite. Addison Farmer‘s bass shines on Friday, which I found least spectacular of the cuts. Meta-Waltz is an interesting rhythmic workout.

Obviously this group is strictly a recording quartet and can only be assessed on the LPs it brings forth. On these two sets, the interest level, the musicianship, and the feeling are very high, indeed.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Prestige, first to bring the Modern Jazz Quartet before the public, now presents a group of exactly the same instrumentation but of entirely different character.

This is the first album for the Prestige Jazz Quartet, a foursome that for the present is only a recording unit. Because of the similarity in instrumentation mentioned before, there will be comparisons with the Modern Jazz Quartet. Without going into a comparative analysis of the two groups, for such is not the purpose here, it might be noted here that both have their links with classical music, its forms and devices. In this respect, the MJQ is concerned with older forms as well as contemporary while the PJQ is interested in the more contemporary developments and then with more regard to devices and spirit than actual form. Their use is more evolutionary than the MJQ’s.

The main reason for the difference of the Prestige Jazz Quartet from any other group is the character of the original written material contributed by members Teddy Charles and Mal Waldron, two of the most provocative composers of new ideas in jazz.

Teddy Charles, born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts in 1928, was a Dixieland drummer during his early playing years in Springfield, MA. In 1946 he came to New York to study percussion at Julliard and shortly thereafter turned his attention to the vibes and Bop. After appearing with the bands of Randy Brooks and Benny Goodman, he made his first real impression on jazz listeners with Chubby Jackson‘s big band of 1949. Then Teddy was with Buddy DeFranco‘s sextet, later in the same year, and during the early fifties with such diverse groups as Oscar Pettiford, Roy Eldridge, Slim Gaillard, Artie Shaw and vocalists Jackie Paris and Anita O’Day. In 1952, Teddy formed his first trio. Since then he has led his own groups of various sizes, espousing new ideas in jazz, many of which grew out of studies with composer-pianist Hall Overton.

Mal Waldron is a native New Yorker (1926) who began his career on alto saxophone but switched to piano in 1949. He received a B.A. from Queens College where he studied composition with Karol Rathaus. In the early fifties, Mal played with the groups of “Big Nick” Nicholas and Ike Quebec and from 1954 through 1956 he appeared intermittently with Charlie Mingus‘ Jazz Workshop. 1957 has found him lending his sensitive accompaniment to Billie Holiday. As a composer he has written modern ballet scores in addition to his numerous jazz opi.

Addison Farmer, twin brother of trumpeter Art, was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1928. In California he played with the bands of Benny Carter and Gerald Wilson; the group of Howard McGhee. Since coming to New York in 1954, he has studied at Julliard and the Manhattan School and worked with the Art Farmer-Gigi Gryce quintet, Teddy Charles and Stan Getz among others.

Gerald “Jerry” Segal is from Philadelphia where he was born in 1931. He majored in music at Mastbaum High, a school which also gave the jazz world Buddy DeFranco and Red Rodney. During the fifties he has played with Bennie Green, Pete Rugolo, Terry Gibbs, Johnny Smith and Teddy Charles.

Teddy Charles has been quoted as saying, “If you’re going to take the time to write (arrange) you might as well compose.” He has been consistent with his preaching by continuing to introduce new compositions at fairly regular intervals. His representation in this album is a tri-segmented work entitled Take Three Parts Jazz which had its premier performance in 1957 at Carnegie Hall during a Contemporary Jazz Composers concert.

Take Three Parts Jazz echoes Teddy’s philosophy of more challenging material leading to fresh results. For instance, the static harmony in the opening section, Route 4 (the New Jersey highway leading to Hackensack and Rudy Van Gelder’s studio), causes the soloists to invent more new melodic material. The tempo is medium; solos are by Charles and Waldron.

Addison Farmer’s ritard bass leads into the second portion, Lyirste (a word coined by Charles combining lyrical and triste). This is a slow movement which leads up to its name. Solos are by Charles, Waldron and Farmer. The backing for each man by the others is extremely sensitive. Notice the shimmering, almost ethereal quality that Teddy achieves while backing Mal.

The third and final part is Father George, an up tempo version of the first section. The tempo change gives the material an entirely different feeling as everyone gets a chance to solo. Father George refers to George Washington, the father of our country, and the bridge named for him which lies at the terminal point of Route 4 on the return trip to New York City.

Mal Waldron has shown himself to be concerned with the element of time in both his playing and writing. Meta-Waltz (meta is short for metamorphosis) is a further experiment with 4/4 and 3/4. In the melody statement there is a bar of four beats followed by a bar of three beats. This gives the feeling of a seven beat bar. It is written this way because Mal felt that it would be easier to swing than a seven beat bar. The solos, which are in up tempo, are in the same pattern but evolved completely into four beat. Farmer and Segal are heard in solo as well as Charles and Waldron.

Dear Elaine is Waldron’s other written gift to this session. A slow ballad built on a two-note motif which approximates the two syllables in the name of his wife, Elaine, it is a beautifully conceived and realized piece of music.

The closer is by Theloinious Monk, one of Charles’ and Waldron’s favorite geniuses. Teddy brought the piece in and this is his interpretation. Friday the Thirteenth is merely a four bar chord pattern stated once and repeated. The very monotony of the chord pattern is conducive to melodic invention because of its challenging limitations.

The debut of the Prestige Jazz Quartet reiterates the writing and playing talents of Teddy Charles and Mal Waldron, illustrates the marvelous way they compliment each other and introduces a unit that really plays as such at all times.