Listening Room: Thad Jones, Mel Lewis Consummation

Thad Jones Mel Lewis Orchestra

Consummation

Solid State, 1970.

The record that made me want to play jazz. Thad's flugelhorn sound on "Dedication" is forever seared into my mind as my model for what I want my sound to be on trombone when I'm playing in a big band. Snooky's build into the uptempo is the jazz equivalent of Bud Herseth's legendary entrance in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recording of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony - flawless and fearless.