Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones ( born March 28, 1923 in Pontiac, Michigan; † August 20, 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark ) was an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, arranger and composer.
Life and work
Jones was born into a musical family. His older brother was pianist Hank Jones, the younger brother of drummer Elvin Jones. The self-taught trumpet player came at the age of sixteen years professionally with Hank Jones and Sonny Stitt. During the Second World War, he played in various bands in the U.S. Army. From 1950 to 1953 he was a member of Billy Mitchell Quintet in Detroit. He played some recordings with Charles Mingus one, on the Debut label also Jones ' first album under his own name was, The Fabulous Thad Jones. From 1954 to 1963 he was a member of Count Basie's orchestra, for which he also arranged; as an arranger, he worked in the late 1950s for Harry James. In 1963 he worked on the album The Individualism of Gil Evans.
After that he worked among others with Pepper Adams and founded in 1965 with the Mel Lewis Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra, which was an institution of the American jazz scene in the next thirteen years. The band performed with such musicians as trumpeters Bill Berry, Danny Stiles, Richard Williams, Marvin trunk, Snooky Young and Jon Faddis, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Knepper, Quentin Jackson and Benny Powell, saxophonist Jerome Richardson, Jerry Dodgion, Eddie Daniels, Joe Farrell, Pepper Adams and Billy Harper, pianist Hank Jones, and Roland Hanna and bassist Richard Davis and George Mraz on.
The beginning of 1978 he moved to Copenhagen, where he appeared in March with the Danmarks Radio Big Band jazz club Montmartre while with Danish musicians like Jesper Thilo and Allan Botschinsky including his compositions Tip Toe and A Good Time Was Had by All recorded. Furthermore, Jones wrote for the radio big band and taught jazz at the Royal Danish Conservatory, in 1984 he founded the band Eclipse. End of 1984, the leadership of the Count Basie Orchestra was transferred to him, but he had to retire due to his poor health.
Jones was considered an excellent trumpeter and improviser. Charles Mingus ruled that he was " ... the greatest trumpet player I've heard in this life ." In later years he also emerged as a composer. His most famous composition was the jazz standard " A Child is Born ". Some jazz aficionados, however, assume that this composition originally comes from his pianist Roland Hanna.
Disco Graphical Notes
Recordings under his own name
- After-hours ( Prestige Records / OJC, 1957) with Frank Wess, Kenny Burrell, Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor
- Mad Thad (Period, 1957) with Henry Coker, Frank Foster, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Jones, Doug Watkins, Elvin Jones
- Mean What You Say ( Milestone Records / OJC, 1966 ) with the Pepper Adams Quintet (Duke Pearson, Ron Carter, Mel Lewis)
- Greetings and Salutations ( Town Crier, 1975-1977 ) with Jon Faddis, Lennart Aberg, Arne Domnérus, Bengt Hallberg, Georg Riedel, Rune Gustafsson
- Thad Jones and the Danish Radio Big Band: Live At The Montmartre - A Good Time Was Had By All other title: Live At Montmartre, Copenhagen ( Storyville, 1978) with Idrees Sulieman, Allan Botschinsky, Jesper Thilo, NHOP.
- Eclipse (Metronome, 1979) with Tim Hagans, Sahib Shihab, Horace Parlan, Jesper Lundgaard
Recordings with the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra
- Basle 1969 ( TCB Records, 1969)
- Complete Solid State Recordings of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra ( Mosaic, 1966-1970; 5 - CD set )
- Thad Jones / Mel Lewis ( LRC 1969 /70)
- Consummation ( Blue Note Records, 1970)
- Village Vanguard Live Sessions (LRC, 1970)
Collection
- The Complete Solid State Recordings of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra (1966-1970) - ( Mosaic - 1994 ) - 7 LPs, 4 CDs with Bill Berry, Richard Williams, Bob Brookmeyer, Tom McIntosh, Jerome Richardson, Jerry Dodgion, Joe Farrell, Eddie Daniels, Pepper Adams, Hank Jones, Richard Davis, Snooky Young, Marvin trunk, Garnett Brown, Phil Woods, Roland Hanna, Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Knepper, Seldon Powell, Eddie Bert, Benny Powell, Joe Temperley, Al Porcino, Julius Watkins, Howard Johnson, Billy Harper, Richie Kamuca