A professor at DePaul University School of Music in the 1970s, Hilliard left the MJO library to his former student tenor saxophonist Jim Gailloreto when his health began to fail.
Realizing the treasure trove of music in this library, the group began performing and the Metropolitan Jazz Octet was brought back to life.
From 2014 to the present while exploring and performing the original MJO music, current members of the group began adding new arrangements of their own.
In 2018 the MJO recorded The Road to Your Place [9] a compilation of original compositions and upended arrangements of classics by Gailloreto, and alto saxophonist John Kornegay.
This recording includes Ben Lewis on piano and adds vibraphonist Mike Freeman, who was also a student of Tom Hilliard at DePaul in the late 1970s, and percussionist Joe Sonnefeldt to the MJO octet instrumentation.