Search - Thad Jones, Mel Lewis :: Body & Soul

Late, Great Thad & Mel

David Renzi | Las Vegas | 12/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is a late edition of Thad and Mel's orchestra performing live in Germany during a 1978 European tour, a year prior to Thad's departure for Copenhagen to lead the Danish Radio Big Band, shocking everyone including Mel, his co-leader of 13 years. This hard-to-find recording from an obscure European label is currently out of print. It was a rarity upon release and it still is, missing even from the vast Amazon Marketplace. If it ever becomes available, snap it up. This is a requisite example of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis orchestra in its element: live in concert, with Mel supporting from the drums and Thad standing out front playing cornet and leading the band through the gauntlet of his expansive, swinging compositions. This double CD documents a single evening's performance. The first disc, which clocks in at nearly 53 minutes, is the first half of the concert; the second disc, at 63 minutes, is the second half. Both provide ample evidence to support the widely held belief at the time that theirs was the best big band in the world. It is a purely subjective assessment, but there is no denying the band's musicality, muscularity and command of the material, which includes five Jones originals, a marathon Bob Brookmeyer tune and three standards. Standouts are a double-time "Fingers," a shuffling "Don't Get Sassy," an "Intimacy Of The Blues" clothed in typically Thaddish garb, a Basie-ish "Sixty First And Richard" and "The Second Race," an up-tempo blues. Those of you who have this one, keep it. Those of you who don't, keep looking. It's worth the effort.







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