Big bands associations of Jim McNeely:
Thad Jones & Mel Lewis
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (1978-1979)
Mel Lewis & The Jazz Orchestra (1979-1984)
The 18-piece Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was formed in December 1965 and, in February 1966, began playing on Monday nights at the Village Vanguard in New York. The orchestra is considered the premiere post-war big band and only major group of its size to form in the 1960s. The early orchestra fused influences from Count Basie, with which Jones had played from 1954 to 1963, and from Stan Kenton and Gerry Mulligan, for whom Lewis had been an arranger. Some of the orchestra's first charts, in fact, had been written for — and rejected by — Basie.
The orchestra quickly became known as a showcase for writers, and a steady stream of quality music flowed to the group. Personnel included Bill Berry, Snooky Young, Cecil Bridgewater, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Knepper, Jerome Richardson, Jerry Dodgion, Pepper Adams, Eddie Daniels, Frank Foster, Roland Hanna and George Mraz.
Writer and pianist Bob Brookmeyer, a charter member of the group, added his tenure with Mulligan, Bill Evans and Clark Terry to the band's compositional influences during its first three years, prior to his relocating to Los Angeles in 1968.
Jim McNeely joined the band in 1978; the next year, Jones left the band and settled in Denmark. By 1980, Lewis had reorganized the group and named Brookmeyer, who had returned from California, musical director. McNeely left the band in 1984 because of increased performance responsibilities with Stan Getz, but returned in 1996 as composer-in-residence.
Jones died in 1986 and, upon Lewis' death, the band was renamed Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
| United States | International Tours | |
|
|
|