Thad Jones


While listening to Pandora in the backgroud...this killer trumpet playing caught my attention.  I walked over to the player to see that it was the Thelonius Monk album 'Five By Monk Five'.  I looked up the album on Wikipedia to see what musicians were on the session. It listed Thad Jones as the trumpeter.  He was killing it.  I'm 65 years old and have been listening to jazz for 46 years and have never heard any music by Thad Jones.   I'd seen his name a few times over the decades while reading about jazz, but nothing ever stood out.  I retrieved the album on Napster and played it.  Excellent album.  Cat can play.

Can anyone recommend any Thad Jones recordings that you think are some of his best work?

On a trivia note, .....pianist Hank Jones and drummer Elvin Jones are his brothers.
128x128mitch4t
Hi Mitch4t,
As a fellow jazz aficionado I’m somewhat surprised you’ve just recently discovered this outstanding trumpeter. He was every bit the talent equal of Miles, Clifford Grown, Fats Navarro etc. As usual Frogman is spot on.

Small combo settings,
"Mean What You Say"
"Keeping Up With The Joneses"
"After Hours"
"The Fabulous Thad Jones"
"Detroit-New York Junction"
Thad could flat out play, yes indeed 😅.
Charles
The Jones brothers Hank, Thad and Elvin were one of the great families of jazz along with,
Heath brothers,  Percy, Jimmy and Albert.
Montgomery brothers,  Wes, Buddy and Monk.
Charles 
Charles1dad, I work from home and have jazz in the background all day.  I've listened to jazz all my adult life...a lot.  I've heard a LOT of jazz.  In the beginning my only exposure to jazz was jazz radio.  If the DJ's didn't play it, I didn't hear it.  No one played Thad Jones.  My other exposure is from music recommended by friends.  No one recommended Thad Jones.  In the mean time I own over 4,000 albums (vinyl & cd combined), I listen to a paid subscription of Napster and Pandora.  I have access to more music than I can ever listen to in a lifetime.  There is SO MUCH great jazz out there and only so many hours in a day.  There are still many great jazz artists's music that I've never heard.  Thanks to Pandora, and the bottomless reservoir of jazz that's been recorded throughout history, I'll still be discovering new jazz recordings for the rest of my life.

mitch4t,

I hear what you're saying. I've been a jazz fan for about 9 years, and more casually before that, but I don't have a clear view of the landscape and the history as I do with rock, so I depend on random discoveries and the recommendations of others. Thanks for the heads up guys. It's always great to make a new discovery.