The Magnificent Thad Jones

Thad Jones came up in Detroit. In May 1954 he joined Count Basie, and that put him in the big time, but Leonard Feather, in the original notes, points out that a band so full of soloists and arrangements left him little room of his own. Blue Note had already made Detroit-New York Junction (BLP 1513) with him, and in 1956 he won the Down Beat critics' poll as the new star on trumpet.

Feather spends a paragraph defending the title. The word magnificent sounds like too much, he admits, then goes to the dictionary and decides it fits.

The date was Saturday, July 14, 1956, at Van Gelder's in Hackensack. Billy Mitchell played tenor; he had led the band at the Bluebird in Detroit that Jones once worked in. Barry Harris, another young Detroiter, had just taken the late Richie Powell's place in Max Roach's group, and Roach himself was on drums, with Percy Heath on bass. Six tunes were taped, and five made the record. Five days earlier Jones and Mitchell had tried "Billie-Doo" and "Thedia" there in a sextet with Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Jones and Elvin Jones, and neither take was kept.

Side one opens with "April in Paris," a tune the Basie band had already recorded. Jones takes three choruses, Mitchell has the bridge of the first, and the "Weasel" quote turns up. Feather thought this version would make you forget Basie's.

Billie-Doo is a wry, sneaky blues theme in which Thad, Billy and Barry Harris take solos in that order.

Leonard Feather, original liner notes

Heath follows them. On "If I Love Again" Harris, Mitchell and Jones solo, and Roach gets a couple of choruses. Feather heard Jones working things out as he went:

You can almost hear him think on this one.

Leonard Feather, original liner notes

Side two starts with Peter DeRose's "If Someone Had Told Me," a quartet without Mitchell. Jones plays the first chorus freely before the rhythm section comes in. "Thedia," named for his young daughter, is a calm unison theme that runs over 10 minutes: three choruses from Mitchell, then a long Jones solo and a run of fours with Roach.

Nat Hentoff gave the record four and a half stars in Down Beat, and liked the sleeve too: "Good, towering cover photo by Francis Wolff." Reid Miles did the design.

The sixth tune, "I've Got a Crush on You," went to The Magnificent Thad Jones Volume 3 (BLP 1546). Seven months later Jones was back on a Blue Note date, leading a sextet.