Lewis is best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet, which was formed to provide members of Dizzy Gillespie's band more improvisational freedom. As critic Scott Yanow points out, Lewis had a vision of "making jazz seem respectable by occasionally interacting with classical ensembles and playing concerts at prestigious venues, but always leaving plenty of space for bluesy and swinging improvising." Unfortunately, differences between vibraphonist Milt Jackson and Lewis led to the former's departure from the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1974 and the group's break-up.
In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the Modern Jazz Quartet's album, European Concert (Atlantic). The album is available from Amazon.com.
The Modern Jazz Quartet, with Lewis on piano, plays one of his compositions, "Django," here:
Robert
Facebook page
