A late-career salute to the Duke, "For Ellington" finds the MJQ playing Ellington and Strayhorn tunes with the same impeccable taste and understated brilliance that defined their sound for decades.
- The album was recorded in New York City in 1987. It was released on Rhino Atlantic in 1988. The album features the quartet's longtime members John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath, and Connie Kay.
- The album was a celebration of the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. It was released on the Rhino Records label, a company then known for its reissues and compilations of classic music.
- The Modern Jazz Quartet had a long association with Atlantic Records, having recorded many of their seminal albums for the label. This album marked a return to Atlantic for the group.
The Modern Jazz Quartet — MJQ, as they were known — were a jazz supergroup formed in 1952. John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay were known for their elegant, chamber-like approach to jazz, often referred to as cool jazz. At the time of this recording, the group had been together, with few personnel changes, for nearly four decades, and were in their third act after a period of inactivity in the late 1970s.
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