Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, recorded on July 2, 1948, July 23, 1951, and April 7, 1952, and released on Blue Note in 1956. The latter two sessions were originally released on ten-inch LP as Wizard of the Vibes (1952).
The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet (the July 2, 1948, and July 23, 1951, sessions) and the Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson (a 1952 session). The album has been recompiled and expanded three additional times, with various tracks from these sessions added and deleted.
The tracks from the Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson consisted of John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, and Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone. The tracks with the Thelonious Monk Quintet were Thelonious Monk on piano, John Simmons on bass, Shadow Wilson on drums, and Milt Jackson on vibraphoneâÂÂwith Kenny "Pancho" Hagood singing on the tracks "All the Things You Are" and "I Should Care".
The original 1952 10" LP was expanded to a 12" LP in 1956, and retitled Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet with a cover designed by Reid Miles, his first for the label. In 1989, the cover and title of the 1956 version were used for a CD featuring the complete 1948 and 1952 sessions, but the 1951 Monk Session was moved to Monk's '. The 2001 album Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes used the cover art and title of the original 1952 album, but contained a re-ordered and remastered version of the contents of the 1989 CD.
In each formulation, the album contained Blue Note Thelonious Monk-led performances unavailable on the parallel editions of Genius of Modern Music.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the tracks with Monk as "classics, rising to their greatest height with the riveting version of 'I Mean You'."
The AllMusic reviewer wrote that "Jackson's inventive playing throughout both dates makes this an important CD in his considerable discography, so it should be a part of any bop fan's collection."