The Complete Blue Note/UA/Roulette Recordings of Thad Jones is a wonderful limited-edition three-disc box set, containing everything the trumpeter recorded for the labels in the late '50s. Jones was a fantastic hard bop trumpeter, and the set captures him in all of his glory, making it of interest to serious hard bop connoisseurs.
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band visited Scandinavia a couple of times and was a sensation. Later when Mel Lewis and Thad Jones had some difficulties Thad got an offer from the Danish Radio Big Band where his first season was (1977-78). Thad Jones wanted to play his own music and played as many as ten radio broadcasts per year at the Montmartre Club. At the same time he also started up his own big band, Eclipse, with his own repertoire, based at Jazzhus Slukefter in the Tivoli Garden.
This recording is dedicated to the memory and compositions of the late trumpeter/composer Thad Jones, younger brother to pianist Hank Jones, older brother to drummer Elvin Jones. Out of print in the U.S. 1994 release from the Jazz piano great finds Hank, alongside George Mraz and brother Elvin, paying tribute to his younger brother, the late trumpeter Thad Jones. 10 tracks including 'Thad's Pad', 'Lady Luck' and 'Mean What You Say'.
Lee Morgan shares this CD reissue with fellow trumpeter Thad Jones. Morgan's three selections feature a quintet with tenor-saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Jimmy Roser and drummer Art Taylor. While that hard bop group democratically performs one original apiece from Morgan, Timmons and Shorter, Thad Jones's date has four of his songs plus a previously unissued alternate take of "Subtle Rebuttal"; best-known is "Tip Toe" which was later recorded by The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Jones's septet is filled with Count Basie sidemen (trombonist Al Grey and tenors Billy Mitchell and Frank Wess) along with a fine rhythm section (pianist Hank Jones, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Osie Johnson) and is more swing-oriented than The Morgan group, but the two sets are equally rewarding.
Thad Jones was an advanced trumpeter/coronetist who was self taught. He played with Hank Jones (yes, his brother) and Sonny Stitt, charles Mingus and Count Basie - very impressive. Not only did he teach himself music well, he also became a talented arranger and composer, especially well known for his classic "A Child is Born", featured magnificently on this cd. ~ Amazon
Back in the late 1960s, Solid State put out four LPs in their series Jazz for a Sunday Afternoon. The five titles with Dizzy Gillespie have been more recently reissued on a two-CD Blue Note set titled Live at the Village Vanguard. Laserlight improves upon the packaging by including two additional titles (from Vol. 3) on their first two CDs; unfortunately, the two lengthy songs ("Satin Doll" and "Straight No Chaser") from a Harry "Sweets" Edison date that comprised Vol. 4 remain out of print. The first disc of this three-CD set has a very interesting, if sometimes erratic date matching Gillespie with violinist Ray Nance (sometimes replaced by trombonist Garnett Brown), baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Richard Davis, and either Mel Lewis or Elvin Jones on drums. Nance's violin playing is adventurous and eccentric, and there are some loose moments, but Dizzy holds the music together and Pepper Adams is in top form.