BLP 1546

 Thad Jones - The Magnificent Thad Jones, Volume 3

Released - May 1957

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, July 14, 1956
Thad Jones, trumpet; Barry Harris, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Max Roach, drums.

tk.7 I've Got A Crush On You

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, February 2, 1957
Thad Jones, trumpet; Benny Powell, trombone; Gigi Gryce, alto sax; Tommy Flanagan, piano; George Duvivier, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.

tk.5 Slipped Again
tk.9 Let's
tk.10 Ill Wind
tk.14 Thadrack

Session Photos

Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan

Thad Jones - Cover Photo

Thad Jones and Alfred Lion

Photos by Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Slipped Again	Thad Jones	02/02/1957
Ill Wind	Koehler, Arlen	02/02/1957
Thadrack	Thad Jones	02/02/1957
Side Two
Let's	Thad Jones	02/02/1957
I've Got A Crush On You	George Gershwin	14/07/1956

Credits

Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:	HAROLD FEINSTEIN
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	LEONARD FEATHER

Liner Notes

Not so long ago, in the comparatively recent bad old days, it took many years for a new and enterprising jazz musician to break into the public print. The opportunities for discussing him in black and white were almost as infrequent as the occasions for committing him to records. Nowadays, the situation seems virtually to be reversed, for no sooner does one of these future stars loom on the horizon than he is the subject of discussion in magazines from continent to continent, and in liner notes from record album to record album. Such, fortunately, has been the case with Thad Jones. Almost completely unknown when he joined the Basie band in May, 1954, he can now boast a scrap-book of hundreds of adulatory analyses.

All of which means that by now the chances are that you know all the essential biographical details concerning Thad. If you didn't hear an exciting LP he made entitled Detroit-New York Junction on Blue Note 1513, you must certainly have caught The Magnificent Thad Jones on BLP 1527, and in either event, you would be better off if you had both.

The men who surround Thad on this new collection are also familiar to those whose musical microscopes follow the trails of modern jazz.

Alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce, a Lionel Hampton alumnus who studied in Paris under a Fullbright scholarship, distinguished himself in what has now become the Clifford Brown Memorial Album on BLP 1526. Benny Powell, an associate of Thad's in the Basie brass section, won a recent Down Beat Critics' Poll as the best new star on trombone. Pianist Tommy Flanagan is the Detroiter featured in the above-mentioned Junction LP; the magnificent George Duvivier's bass sound has graced Bud Powell's finest performances on Blue Note. Thus, the only comparative newcomer on these sides is Thad's brother, Elvin, who, following in the footsteps of Thad himself and Benny Powell, seems a good bet for the new star drum chair in the next critics' poll.

Elvin Jones was born September 9, 1927 in Pontiac, Michigan, four years after Thad and nine years after their brother, pianist Hank Jones. Self-taught, he played in Army bands from 1946-9, then spent three years at the Blue Bird in Detroit with Thad and Billy Mitchell, the tenor player heard on both Thad's previous Blue Note LPs. He moved to New York a year or so ago, worked with Bud Powell, then joined the Jay Jay Johnson quintet. Elvin names Max Roach, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Philly Joe Jones and Roy Haynes as his favorites; his remarkable work in this album shows how diligently he has drawn from these various sources.

Slipped Again, for example, features Elvin off and on throughout. His breaks lead into successive solo stretches by Thad, Gigi and Benny, later he has a couple of fours with Duvivier and then with each of the horns.

Ill Wind, after an introduction in which the melody is backed by bowed bass, goes into rhythm with spare but ingenious use of the horns, and a gentle changing or rephrasing of the tune's charming bridge. Notice how subtly Elvin edges into double time with his brushes on the second chorus. Thad, having played a full chorus of near-melody and a second chorus of astonishingly fluid improvisation, cedes the mike to Flanagan for sixteen bars, then resumes for the last sixteen bars and for the fading series of tags that bring this track to a quiet conclusion.

Thadrack, a fastish minor theme, is mainly a solo workout for all, in the following sequence: Thad, Gigi, Benny, Tommy, Thad, Duvivier, and a return to the theme. Notice particularly the melodic and fast-fingered work of Duvivier on his chorus here.

let's, another minor theme, shows one of the pleasant idiosyncracies of Thad's writing-his tendency to introduce sudden breaks in the rhythm before tearing off into wild four-four ad libbing. The odd series of open spots by the horns, with the rhythm section in a state of suspension, ends up in a series of unison tonics and dominants underscored by Elvin on each beat; then, before you know it, Thad is off and leading the field at a fast canter for a couple of choruses. Gigi has three choruses that rank among his best recorded work, more like Gigi Gryce and less a shadow of Charlie Parker as are so many modern altos. Benny Powell, too, is fleetly inventive on his two choruses (despite his exceptional technique, he is not unaware of the value of simplicity, employing rhythmic variations on a single note for eight entire measures during the second chorus).

Tommy Flanagan's three choruses include some interesting passages in which the bass is suspended for four measures at a time for contrast. Then it's Elvin and George walking, Elvin walking on his own for one, and three choruses by Thad with some really wild bass and drums. A four-bar drum break leads into the last ensemble, which has the same interestingly chopped-up ensemble effects as the opening. For a performance that runs almost nine minutes, Let's does a commendable job of accentuating variety and avoiding monotony.

I've Got a Crush on You was made at an earlier session, with the rhythm section Thad used on 1527 (Barry Harris, Percy Heath, Max Roach). As usually happens when Thad is in his ballad mood, the verse is included. He dwells lingeringly on the major seventh that opens the chorus, then plays a beautifully controlled series of discreet variations on the melody. In the second chorus the variations are on the chord changes rather than on the tune itself, while Max nudges his way into a double-time feel in the background. Barry Harris, on the third chorus, makes fine harmonic use of the tune's natural resources and plays in a generally rubato style, then, unexpectedly, to close-the performance, Thad returns to the verse.

Following Thad's principle, I think I will close by returning to my own verse and reiterating the thought expressed in the opening paragraph, but with an extra added afterthought. The reason people like Thad Jones don't take as long to earn the appreciation of the fans, and of fellow musicians and critics, as would have been the case with a new musician a decade or so ago, is that talents of Thad's dimensions were not appearing that often or developing that fast.

- LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz)

Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design by HAROLD FEINSTEIN
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

BLP 1527

 Thad Jones - The Magnificent Thad Jones

Released - October 1956

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, July 14, 1956
Thad Jones, trumpet; Billy Mitchell, tenor sax #1-4; Barry Harris, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Max Roach, drums.

tk.2 Thedia
tk.6 April In Paris
tk.10 Billie-Doo
tk.11 If I Love Again
tk.12 If Someone Had Told Me

Session Photos

Percy Heath

Thad Jones

Thad Jones

Max Roach and Barry Harris

Photos by Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
April in Paris	Vernon Duke, E. Y. Harburg	14/07/1956
Billie-Doo	Thad Jones	14/07/1956
If I Love Again	Jack Murray, Ben Oakland	14/07/1956
Side Two
If Someone Had Told Me	Peter DeRose, Charles Tobias	14/07/1956
Thedia	Thad Jones	14/07/1956

Credits Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:	REID K. MILES
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	LEONARD FEATHER

Liner Notes

"MAGNIFICENT" is an apparently exorbitant adjective to apply to any performer, especially one who has arrived only recently at the inner esthetic circle of his chosen art. Yet in the case of Thad Jones the dictionary offers ample justification for its use. Magnificent stems from the words magnus, great, and facere, to do or make; and you don't have to be a Latin, or even a semanticist, to know that Thad Jones has been doing some great things in recent months.

Generally speaking there are three stages of recognition for a musician: first the fellow-musicians start the bandwagon rolling, then the critics, and finally the fans. Thad passed the first barrier in May 1954, when a job with Count Basie landed him in the big time, and passed the second when in the summer of 1956 the Down Beat critics’ poll awarded him the palm as the year’s new star on trumpet. With the release and enthusiastic acceptance of such records as Detroit-New York Junction on Blue Note BLP1513, he has successfully stormed the third bastion.

As on this last-named record, Thad is again teamed here with Billy Mitchell’s tenor saxophone to give his combo a powerful two-man front line. Mitchell, who led the band in which Thad was a sideman at the Bluebird in Detroit a few years back, has now completed two tours, one in the middle east and one in Latin America, as part of Dizzy Gillespie’s big State Department-sponsored band.

The rhythm section has changed since the last LP. Barry Harris is a young pianist from Detroit who recently replaced the late Ritchie Powell in Max Roach's group. Percy Heath, no stranger to Blue Note customers, means as much to the bass in modern jazz as Max Roach to the drums, which means that any further elaboration would be redundant.

Thad was clearly in excellent spirits and in wonderful condition when this session was recorded. Though it is a painfully materialistic thought, it must be admitted that the greatest hornman alive will not operate at his optimum if his lip is chapped, if he just arrived on the bus from Ephrata, Pa. after a one-night stand, or if some member of the accompanying unit is bugging him. The fact that Thad was happy when he cut these sides shines through as clearly and brightly as the bell of his horn.

April In Paris reminds me of a remark I made in the notes for BLP 1513, as follows: "For those whose picture of Thad is conceived in the memory of that everlasting Pop Goes The Weasel quote on April in Paris, his First Blue Note LP may come as an ear-opener." Well, Thad has now made me swallow my words, by making a new version of the Vernon Duke standard, Weasel quote and all, and doing so much with it that the Basie treatment is soon forgotten.

Ingenious use is made of a low G on the piano that serves not only as a dominant note in the introduction (literally, it turns out, though at first hearing you can't be sure whether the piece will turn out to be in G, C, B Flat or what) but is used in the course of the routine, along with Max’s smooth brush rhythm, as a bridge between solos. Billy Mitchell has the release of the first chorus, but the performance is substantially Thad's, unfettered by any background figures, orchestral interweavings or any of the factors that tend to run interference for him in a more elaborate setting. This is not meant as any criticism of the Basic band, to which the adjective "magnificent" can be applied with equal vigor; it is just that there is in any top-ranking large jazz orchestra too much solo talent, and too much writing, for everything and everyone to get the kind of chance for personal expression that Thad deserves. I won’t go into intricate details about his three choruses on April In Paris here beyond pointing out that the qualities he has shown in earlier works - tonal zest, variety of phrasing, continuity and ideation - are enhanced by a superlative recording job that makes his presence immediate.

Billie-Doo is a wry, sneaky blues theme in which Thad, Billy and Barry Harris take solos in that order. Percy Heath follows, with Harris’ crisp chording offering substantial assistance. Thad returns, with the tenor rifting contrapuntally against him; at the end of this 12-bar stretch Max's break soars into a closing dozen that ends with a powerful smear.

If l Love Again is a ballad written almost 25 years ago by one J. P. Murray; however, in this incarnation it represents neither balladry nor, in effect, J. P. Murray. The melody is played fast, rephrased, with varying rhythms from Max to offer an overwhelming sense of light and shade; then Barry Harris takes over for three choruses. His lines are graceful single-note contours for the most part, with the ching-chinga-ching of Max's cymbal work underlining insistently. Billy Mitchell follows with a robust, extrovert solo; then comes Mr. Jones. You can almost hear him think on this one. It is like watching an abstract painter who senses exactly where to place which splashes of color, how to shade and gradate, and which areas of the canvas to leave uncluttered. Max takes over for a couple of choruses before the melody returns, and loath as I am to admit it, I must say that if anyone can convince me that a drum solo belongs on a record, it is Max.

If Someone Had Told Me, a Peter De Rose composition that appeared in the popular field some four years ago, shows what a man of much distinction can do to a song of very little. The first chorus is played ad lib in both senses of the term - that is, the time is not constant and Thad improvises around the melody - after which he edges his way into further ad Iibbing with the addition of a slow, steady beat from the rhythm section.

Thedia is a placidly happy unison theme, named for Thad’s little daughter. Billy Mitchell has three impressive choruses here in which savage torrents of notes are interspersed with more loosely swinging passages, all executed with a plenitude of tonal virility and a sense of confident mastery of the horn. A couple affine choruses from Barry Harris are followed by some Percy Heath bass solo work that has easily recognizable melodic value. Try to imagine this solo played on a trumpet, or any upper-register horn, and you will realize what people like Percy accomplish when they take a chorus. Thad has a long, brilliant solo and trades a lengthy series of fours with Max before the theme returns.

I am confident that a hearing of these performances will convince you that the adjective applied to Thad Jones for the name of this album was the most fitting one that could be used in the circumstances. I might even close by adding a further definition of the word: magnificent - characterized by sensuous splendor or sumptuous adornment; also, characterized by grandeur or majestic beauty.

You said it, Mr. Webster.

-LEONARD FEATHER

Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design by REID K. MILES
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT THE MAGNIFICENT THAD JONES

Thad Jones had already turned the heads of serious jazz folks through his recordings with Charles Mingus and under his own name on the Debut and Period labels before he became a Blue Note artist in 1956. In terms of the general public, however, the trumpeter's most important early recordings were made in July 1955, when he stepped forth from the Count Basie brass section to solo on "April in Paris" and "Corner Pocket." The inclusion of the former as the lead track on this, Jones's second Blue Note date, and the very different approach he takes to what had already become a Basie flag-waver, suggests how Jones valued artistry far beyond commercial considerations.

This version of "April in Paris" suggests that Jones was attending to use of chordal suspensions that Miles Davis had begun to employ in his first great quintet, an approach that Davis had found particularly captivating in the work of pianist Ahmad Jamal's trio, As such, the track sounds like Jones's greatest nod to Davis, and suggests that the performance could be subtitled "April in Paris in Dear Old Stockholm." Highlights of the three-chorus trumpet solo that dominates the performance are the opening of chorus two and the singing third-chorus bridge.

Oddly enough, only two of the remaining tracks are Jones originals. Its title notwithstanding, "Billie-Doo" is not based on the changes of "Love Letters," but rather on the blues. The second trumpet chorus, where the direct opening makes the dissonances uncovered at bar nine that much more powerful, shows Jones's ability to move from the basic to the abstract, and he once again quotes "Pop Goes the Weasel," while Billy Mitchell recalls "Zec" (from the previous Jones album Detroit-New York Junction) in the third tenor chorus. "Thedia" is more typical of Jones the composer, a 32-bar sequence that sounds as if it was based on the changes of "Indiana" in spots but is actually the trumpeter's original chord sequence. The second trumpet chorus is again notable, this time for suggesting how Jones applied the influence of Dizzy Gillespie to arrive at his own original voice.

As is the case on Jones's other two Blue Note albums, the personnel here draws heavily from his Detroit contemporaries. Tenor saxophonist Mitchell, the only returnee from the Junction date, was currently ensconced in the saxophone section of the Dizzy Gillespie big band, where he shared tenor sax duties for more than a year with Benny Golson, and also sat among such stellar reed section associates as Ernie Henry, Ernie Wilkins, and Phil Woods. By the beginning of 1958, Mitchell would join Jones in the Basie band. Two non-Detroiters, and two of the era's nonpareils, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Max Roach, were in the rhythm section, which in itself was enough to make this session special. Heath, who had been ubiquitous on recordings a few years earlier, had begun to limit his appearances after the Modern Jazz Quartet took off, and this was his first full session in several months where he was not heard in the presence of Milt Jackson, John Lewis, or the MJQ. Roach was making his first studio appearance since the tragic death of his co-leader, trumpeter Clifford Brown, in a highway accident three weeks earlier.

Brown/Roach pianist Richie Powell was also killed in that accident, which led Roach to recruit Barry Harris as a temporary replacement. This disc represents Harris's first released New York recording, and finds him already displaying the clarity and sensitivity that would become a hallmark of his style. His solos and support suggest that a Detroit school of modern piano was emerging, wherein the members displayed similar touches and taste, even though the behind the beat feeling that separated Harris from Tommy Flanagan and Thad's brother Hank Jones is also apparent. One can also detect Bud Powell and (especially on the intro to "If Someone Had Told Me") Duke Jordan in Harris's style, while his elegant comping on "Billie-Doo" cannot help but recall Flanagan on the Sonny Rollins classic "Blue Seven," recorded (with Roach on drums) three weeks earlier. Harris would remain in New York long enough to record again on three Prestige sessions, but by summer's end he was back in Detroit.

As for the two bonus tracks, "Something to Remember You By" comes from a July 9 sextet date that included Kenny Burrell. Five titles were attempted in all, including versions of "Billie-Doo" and "Thedia, " but only this trumpet/guitar duet has ever been released, having first appeared on a Japanese Blue Note anthology, while "I've Got a Crush on You," with Mitchell laying out, comes from the July 14 date and was held for inclusion in Jones's third and final Blue Note album.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2007

BLP 1513

 Thad Jones - Detroit - New York Junction

Released - May 1956

Recording and Session Information

Audio-Video Studios, NYC, March 13, 1956
Thad Jones, trumpet; Billy Mitchell, tenor sax #1,2,4,5; Tommy Flanagan, piano #1,2,4,5; Kenny Burrell, guitar; Oscar Pettiford, bass; Shadow Wilson, drums #1,2,4,5.

tk.3 Tariff
tk.14 Blue Room
tk.19 Little Girl Blue
tk.28 Scratch
tk.30 Zec

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Blue Room	Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers	13/03/1956
Tariff	Thad Jones	13/03/1956
Little Girl Blue	Hart, Rodgers	13/03/1956
Side Two
Title	Author	Recording Date
Scratch	Thad Jones	13/03/1956
Zec	Thad Jones	13/03/1956

Credits

Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:	REID K. MILES
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	BABS GONZALES

Liner Notes

Ever since it lost its amateur standing as a rural folk music and began to earn attention as an esthetic American art form in the view of the literati, jazz has been undergoing a process that might best be described as "citification."

Because of the emergence of several of the early jazzmen from its nether regions, the first community thus to be citified in jazz was New Orleans, even though simultaneously with the alleged birth of jazz in that town there was no shortage of similar music in Memphis, Tenn, or Sedalia, Mo, or even New Brunswick, NJ. After that we had Chicago jazz, later Kansas City jazz, and more recently Los Angeles has produced something often described as West Coast jazz.

The citification of music may have no exact musical basis in some of these instances; in any case, rapid communications via radio, records, and traveling musicians made every style the property of jazz as a whole almost as soon as it had developed. A major factor that has tended to citify jazz is the concentration of almost all the important technical facilities in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It is not until a musician or group migrates to one of these three that he has much of a chance for international recognition nowadays.

Thus, the title "Detroit - New York Junction" signifies a happy marriage between the rapidly growing musical produce of the Motor City and the magnetic tape of the Big Apple.

Thaddeus Joseph Jones is the latest and greatest talent to emerge from America's automotive areas. Born March 28 1923 in Pontiac, Mich, he is almost five years younger than his brother Hank, the distinguished pianist heard lately with Benny Goodman. A third brother, Elvin, is beginning to make a name for himself as a drummer.

The three Jones boys had their own combo for a while in the late 1930s around Detroit and neighboring towns. Thad worked in Saginaw with a Bostonian who had wandered westward, saxophonist Sonny Stitt. After some more local work in Michigan and a couple of years of army service from 1943—46, he had his own band for a while in Oklahoma City. Back in Detroit, he spent two years in a combo led by Billy Mitchell, the tenor sax man heard as Thad's own sideman on this LP. (Billy, at this writing, is bringing the doctrines of modern jazz to audiences in Pakistan and points East as a member of the State Department-blessed Dizzy Gillespie band.)

Thad joined the Count Basie orchestra in May 1954. It was not long before musicians, then critics, then fans began to acclaim him. He should have won the Down Beat Critics' Poll in 1955 as new trumpet star of the year, but missed it by a hair (half a vote, to be precise).

Actually Thad, in more than two years with Basie, has had less of a chance than one might expect to display his talent fully. For one thing, he has to share the solo chores with another great trumpeter, Joe Newman; for another, his harmonic conception on solos may be a little in advance of those of the accompanying rhythm section or ensemble. At all events, for those whose picture of Thad is conceived in the memory of that everlasting "Pop Goes the Weasel" quote his first on "April in Paris," Blue Note LP may come as an ear-opener.

The combo with him is just small enough to set him off perfectly, just large enough never to leave a bare setting. Kenny Burrell, the guitarist, and Tommy Flanagan, the pianist, are both fellow Detroiters who have lately made their mark on the New York scene. Oscar Pettiford is too well known to need any formal presentation, while Shadow Wilson, among other credits, played drums with Hampton, Hines, and Herman, as well as with Basie, Jacquet, and Garner.

"Blue Room" is treated in a buoyant, blithe fashion at an easy tempo, with the full-bodied Mitchell tenor, the loose, easy Burrell guitar, and incredibly agile Pettiford's bass all featured before Thad moves in cautiously, gracefully, like a panther about to pounce. There is a similar elegance to the grace notes of "Tarriff" as they trip gently over the tenor's second line in the ingenious ensemble. And on "Little Girl Blue" played simply by trumpet, guitar, and bass, you may perhaps find the most distinctive moments of the entire set. The verse is played as a waltz; Oscar Uses bow; Kenny uses chords; Thad uses every weapon at his disposal, and with the dexterity of a master. This is ballad jazz of a high order.

It is on the lengthy '"Scratch," though, that you may find your dearest and fullest view of the magnificence of Thad Jones's talent. The long-note phrases, in which contrasting accents compensate for the scarcity of notes, are followed by peppery passages alive with sixteenth notes. Thad's symmetry of construction is one of his most telling virtues: hitting on a fanciful idea, he may decide to repeat it with the accents or the harmonic placement changed for the sake of variety. In other words, when he builds a solo he constructs a continuous melody, which is the end to which every improvised jazz solo should aspire, and one that few can attain.

"Zec" is another original, kicked off much faster than "Scratch" and played in trumpet-tenor unison, a boppish melody that sails right into Thad's first solo. Flanagan's single-note lines on his swinging solo earmark him as one of the year's brightest new piano discoveries.

In view of Alfred Lion's past record for nurturing new jazz talent, I'm not at all surprised that it was he who engineered this felicitous Detroit-New York junction.

-LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The Encyclopedia of Jazz)

Cover Design by REID K. MILES
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT DETROIT-NEW YORK JUNCTION

Thad Jones's first Blue Note album reinforces its title by including two of the trumpeter's associates from his days at Detroit's Blue Bird club. "I had a band at the Blue Bird," Billy Mitchell recalled in a 1997 conversation. "It was a quartet until Thad sat in one night. The next night, he was working with us permanently. We recorded for Dee Gee records which was jointly owned by Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Usher, when Terry Pollard was still in the band — she was later replaced by Tommy Flanagan. Terry played vibes and piano, and when she took a vibes solo on the recording session, Thad comped for on piano. Thad's brother Elvin was in the band at the time, too. In fact, Elvin had never played in a professional band before that."

The Dee Gee session Mitchell mentions, most readily available on the Savoy anthology Swing, Not Spring, is often listed in discographies as having taken place in 1948, although Mitchell confirmed that it was more likely done in 1951 or '52. Among its four titles are "Zec" (erroneously titled "The Zec" and attributed to Mitchell on the Savoy reissue) and the arrangement of "Blue Room" heard here.

Flanagan and guitarist Kenny Burrell also represent the Motor City on the present album. Both of these giants-to-be had recently arrived in New York and wasted no time in establishing their uncommon musicianship and flexibility. Burrell got into the studios first, recording with Franks Foster and Wess on Savoy a week earlier; and the guitarist employed the rhythm section heard here a day earlier when he cut the bulk of what would become Kenny Burrell, Volume 2. Two of the era's most accomplished and already established musicians, bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Shadow Wilson, complete the sextet. As a sign of the present band's compatibility, note that it contains Basie sidemen past (Wilson), present (Jones), and future (Mitchell), as well as one participant who had already made an important contribution to the recorded legacy of Thelonious Monk (Pettiford), and two who would do so in the near future (Wilson and Jones).

As Leonard Feather points out, Jones was in danger of becoming known as the Basie trumpeter who solos infrequently and likes to start with outrageous quotations. (His turn on a second Basie classic from 1955, "Corner Pocket," had commenced with a citation from "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.") Yet there was much more to the trumpeter's conception, as his small-group work on Debut and Period had already made clear, and as the infrequent yet invaluable combo sessions he subsequently produced only reinforced. Jones was closer to Dizzy Gillespie than most second-generation modern trumpeters, in part because he possessed the technical capacity that others lacked; but he put his own audacious spin on his source, much the way in which Henry "Red" Allen had built on Louis Armstrong in an earlier period.

The three Jones originals here also illustrate a singular approach to writing, one that would be overlooked by many until the Thad Jones/MeI Lewis Jazz Orchestra was formed a decade later. "It wasn't like bebop," Flanagan once explained, "it was just the way Thad wrote. He just had a way of making things sound familiar, but as far as I know most of his chord structures are completely original. There was one that I tried to match with some other tunes, but I could never work it out. I guess it was just one of those 'Jonesisms.' Many of his originals are just that — very original."

Of the writing here, "Tariff" (misspelled "Tarriff" on the original LP) contrasts a dancing trumpet line against held notes by the tenor. "Scratch," not to be confused with compositions of the same name associated with the Jazz Crusaders and Kenny Barron, is 36 bars long and one of the trumpeter's familiar-sounding forms that recalls "I Remember You" in spots. "Zec" was a tribute to Mitchell. "l was the bandleader in Detroit and did all of the business," the saxophonist explained, "so they called me 'The Executive."' "Zec" has had the longest life, later appearing on Pepper Adams's Critic's Choice in 1957, Steve Coleman's Rhythm in Mind in 1991 , and Flanagan's all-Jones album from 1994, Let's, which also includes the pianist's version of "Scratch."

— Bob Blumenthal, 2006