Thad Jones & Mel Lewis - Suite for Pops 1 - Meetin' Place

[Manxfeeder]

Oops; I mean Billy Harper.

[Manxfeeder]

Wow, a blast from the past! I transcribed Bridgewater's solo back then. Billy Thedford's, well, that's another story.

[jwinder2]

The tenor soloists are Ron Bridgewater and Billy Harper.

[countdown226]

who are the tenor soloists?

[linlasj]

Is it Earl Gardner on lead trumpet?

[bennyrussell1]

@linlasj No, that is a young Jon Faddis on lead.

[bennyrussell1]

@linlasj 

[bennyrussell1]

@linlasj : No that's a young Jon Faddis on lead.

[linlasj]

@bennyrussell1 Yes, I realized that after a while. And one can also hear that it is Jon. This band, with personell played in Sweden several times. Great band. One time Lew Soloff was in there as well Great.

[vex9000]

Greatest ever!

[phadamblab]

This is such an amazing performance. Makes me more sad than anything; what are the chances any young people now-a-days would even have the patience to sit through such amazing instrumental music?

[MRLOVINGOOD]

The piece is not as beautiful without the french horns .I love all the music by this band with Thad at the helm.This was the band of bands in my book.Thad had get from the Basie to make this what it was,"The best big band" in the day.I got almost all of the band's albums for Solid State and A&M.Yout tube did it again as usual.thanks

[hueman17]

George Mraz...GROOVIS GIGANTICUS!!!!

[EMCEMITCH]

quentin butter jackson on the bone-my man

[vex9000]

Is this Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone - far left side of tb section

[bobjazz11]

Yeah - check out the other parts of this number on this channel....

Actually I got an email from Bob Brookmyer asking me for a copy !!! ... makes all the posting worthwhile - especially for this amazing band

Bob

[Girolata]

Yeah, this works for me! This may be the best post bop big band of all time! What an all-star cast. Thad was one of the few of his generation, and after, who really could inspire group genius.

[mingusmonk0]

Ah Billy Harper, you are the man! Bobjazz11 do you know when this was made? Dodgion, Bridgewaters, Harper, Brookmeyer, Mraz, Robinson, Pepper, Faddis, no Mosca? This band was never recorded and I'm trying to figure out when it existed. Thanks!

[trane1959]

this band recorded alot actually. Just never got dumped to CD. This is from 1973, I believe. You can buy these records off of EBAY.

[mingusmonk0]

Are you sure they recorded? I have some tracks that John Riley gave me which appears to feature the same band on this tour in Europe but it was a radio broadcast and never was issued. Released recordings that had a similar lineup were the manuel desica one, the jimmy smith one, and potpourri. None of those albums had Walter Norris or brookmeyer on them though, making this video a rare treat.

[mingusmonk0]

I wish I could by albums with this band on ebay!

[mingusmonk0]

*buy

[trane1959]

why not? I did. Suite For Pops and Potpourri are two great ones I own on record and bought them from ebay.

[mingusmonk0]

those are two of my favorite albums (I especially love Quentin Jackson's solo on only for now!). I just meant that they don't have the exact same personnel as this clip.

[dandiacal]

Damn! You got some tracks from John Riley? Next time you see him could you ask him about why SIr Roland Hanna wasn't on this particular tour?

[tarple]

The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra has dozens of albums (some under Mel Lewis Orchestra and the newer ones as the vanguard jazz orchestra

[dandiacal]

From what I have gleamed from research, Sir Roland Hanna had some reservations about playing electric keyboard, even though he recorded on it on Suite For Pops and another great album, Potpourri. Is this why Hanna did not travel for this date? Anyone know?

[mingusmonk0]

I'm glad somebody else cares about the important history of this band. According to my research Hanna left the band somewhere between Jul 1975 and Jan 1976. He was immediately replaced by Walter Norris who was then also quickly replaced by Harold Danko somewhere around Summer of 1976. This astounding video series appears to be from early with Norris 1976. The personnel lines up with my research and if you are interested in hearing some radio recordings of this exact band send me a message.

[dandiacal]

You know I have the Harold Danko quartet with Thad, Mel and Rufus Reid on LP. It's great, especially But not for me. How would I be able to hear those audio recordings? I would prefer hearing Hanna to Norris, but its all good in the end. By the way Dennis Irwin RIP...

[tonyfreejazz20]

Yeah...loving the sax solo...awesome. Thanks for posting this.

[domkeller]

this mraz person... awesome. bass and drums play like fraternal twins.

[laxgoalie2727]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. "Meetin' Place" has to have the highest flatted ninth in jazz history--at 1:04. Want to check out a great sense of time? When the piece is ending, abruptly move the slider back to the beginning. Mraz and Mel are keeping exactly the same tempo as in the beginning. Dodgion, Pepper, Brookmeyer...all the cats are there. I can't get enough of this group! Again, thanks for posting this.

[dandiacal]

Do you know if "The Great One" movement from this suite was filmed as well? I like Bishop's Rhodes here but I do miss Sir Roland Hanna.

[bobjazz11]

Hi

No. I only got the first three - they were stuck on the end of another concert like it could have been a mistake (!) I have no idea who did the filming or anything ...

Bob