Thad Jones & Mel Lewis

The third brother in the illustrious Jones family, along with pianist Hank and drummer Elvin, his childhood fascination with Louis Armstrong led him to take up the trumpet. At the end of the '30s, still a teenager, Thad Jones followed his elder brother Hank, who gave him his first stage opportunities, in an orchestra also led by another family member. Before doing his National Service in the mid-40s, Thad Jones had already accumulated a number of stage experiences and met Sonny Stitt. As if his path had been paved, he joined the army and, at the same time, made the acquaintance of Jack Teagarden. It wasn't long after his discharge that, in 1948, Thad Jones took over the management of a band initially led by the recently deceased Charlie Young. The experience wasn't particularly successful, so he went through a number of projects before settling back into a quintet, this time with his younger brother Elvin and pianist Tommy Flanagan. This new collaboration took him to the mid-50s, where he recorded as a leader, worked with Charles Mingus and joined Count Basie for several years, considered one of the orchestra's most talented soloists. Other collaborations followed: with Art Farmer, George Russell, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams and others. From the end of the '50s onwards, Thad Jones worked more often as a songwriter, considered one of the most skilful arrangers of modern jazz repertoire for large orchestras. It was in his meeting with Mel Lewis that he put his predispositions as an arranger to good use. Under contract to the Village Vanguard, the big band, co-directed by the two men, welcomed a host of talented musicians and won international recognition. At the end of the 70s, after undergoing several lip operations, he semi-retired in Denmark, continuing to divide his time between teaching, conducting, learning the trombone and writing. Before passing away, Thad Jones had the honor of carrying on Count Basie's band when Basie died in 1984. Whenever you hear "A Child is Born", one of his most famous compositions, it's like an immutable image of Thad Jones that continues to run through jazz history.

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