THAD JONES & MEL LEWIS

 

 

 

One leader of this orchestra grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, as one of 10
children. His first musical contact was with church gospel music. The other
leader grew up in Buffalo, New York, and his first musical effort was
drumming a Hora at a wedding.

Despite such disparate backgrounds, however, Thad Jones and Mel
Lewis have put together one of the most dynamic and imaginative big band
sounds in jazz.

Arnold Jay Smith, writing in down beat, has called the ensemble “the best
big band in the world,” and a Stereo Review article has stated, “. . . the Thad
Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra is unquestionably the best of the big bands.”

Winner of down beat critic and reader polls for several years, the orchestra
can produce a range of sound from sheer brassy power to soft chamber
ensemble. It is the only big band that can explore without losing the subtlety
of Thad Jones’s charts.

Besides being a composer/arranger, Jones is a triple-threat musician -
trumpet, fluegelhorn and cornet. He has performed with many of the jazz
legends, including the great Count Basie Band of the Fifties. While with the
Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band, Jones met a drummer by the name of
Mel Lewis, and that meeting changed the world of jazz.

Lewis is a drummer of astonishing freshness who can keep the orchestra
moving with compelling, uptempo brush strokes. A thoughtful musician,
highly respected by his fellow professionals, Lewis has performed with such
giants as Benny Goodman and Dizzy Gillespie.

Together, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis show, as yet another critic has put it,
“what jazz is all about.”

Personnel

Saxophones
Jerry Dodgion
Eddie Xiques
Dick Oates
Richard Perry *
Carmen Leggio

Trumpets
Earl Gardner
Frapk Gordon
Jeff Davis*
Larry Moses*

Trombones
John Mosca
Earl Mclntyre
Lee Robertson
Lolly Bienenfeld

Piano
Harold Danko

Bass
Ray Drummgand
& :
Vocals
Birdie Green

*Berklee Alumnus