The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra celebrates the 100th Birthday of its Legendary Founder with the Album, Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones

March 28, 2023 would have marked the 100th birthday of the legendary trumpeter, composer and bandleader Thad Jones, who passed away in 1986 at the age of 63. Always ahead of his time, Jones had anticipated the occasion by more than four decades, recording “My Centennial” in 1980 with his big band Eclipse.

That piece inevitably makes up part of the repertoire for Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones, the celebration concert recorded by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the now-legendary ensemble that he co-founded in 1966 as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Released via BCM+D Records, Centennial is a vibrant two-album set captured live on stage at the ensemble’s Monday night home for nearly six decades, the iconic Village Vanguard. Get it here.

“I always say that we have two things going for us that no other band has,” explains bass trombonist Douglas Purviance, who joined the VJO in 1978 and now serves as its business manager. “That’s Thad Jones’ music and a steady gig at the Mecca of jazz. It’s every jazz musician’s goal to play the Village Vanguard, and we get to do that every week.”

Centennial was recorded in February 2024, during the VJO’s annual anniversary week. Late in 1965, Jones – middle brother of the famed jazz family that also included pianist Hank and drummer Elvin – and the drummer Mel Lewis had agreed to share the helm of a new big band, booking three nights the following February to test the concept on the stage of the Village Vanguard.

The club’s cantankerous owner, Max Gordon, grudgingly acknowledged the Orchestra’s successful debut, reportedly suggesting, “We’ll keep it going until it tapers off.”

Nearly six decades and more than 2,700 Monday nights later, the Vanguard is still waiting. Even after a pandemic-necessitated hiatus the band quickly returned to capacity crowds, continuing a historic tenure that has featured a who’s-who line-up, a pair of Grammy Awards from 17 nominated albums, and eleven “Best Big Band” nods in the DownBeat Critics and Readers Polls.

The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra modernized the big band sound as the world changed through the late 60s and early 70s. Jones’ writing and arranging drew upon the inspiration of the two most iconic bands in jazz history, elegantly interweaving the complexity and elegance of Duke Ellington with the fervor and blues roots of Count Basie, in whose band Jones had launched his career. It’s a combination that Purviance calls, “sophisticated yet down home.”

“Thad set the Orchestra up as a small group with a lot of horns,” adds lead alto saxophonist Dick Oatts, the current band’s senior member and artistic director. “The way Thad wrote was just ingenious. It was the future the of the jazz big band tradition.”

With more than 300 compositions now in its book, the VJO prides itself on never repeating the same show from week to week, mixing in a blend of music from throughout its 58-year history. When it came time to honor its founder, however, Oatts decided on a selection that would represent the cornerstones of the band’s identity. “These are the tunes that really put Thad Jones and Mel Lewis on the map,” he says.

The setlist reaches all the way back to the band’s beginnings. “Back Bone,” bookended here by Oatts’ captivating unaccompanied intro and Purviance’s rousing solo turn, was already in the mix for the Orchestra’s debut performance; it opens All My Yesterdays, the essential 2016 release of its earliest recordings. It includes such indelible compositions as the spellbinding ballad “A Child Is Born,” which has become both a jazz standard and a Christmas classic, interpreted by the likes of Bill Evans, Tony Bennett, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Geri Allen. “61st & Rich’It” serves as a tribute to another foundational band member, original Orchestra bassist Richard Davis, who died in September 2023.

The release of Centennial on Temple University’s five-time Grammy-nominated imprint BCM+D coincides with the Orchestra’s establishment as artists-in-residence at the school, bringing members to the school for classes and performances and opening the Vanguard’s doors to students on Monday nights. The partnership continues a longstanding relationship between the VJO and Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. Terell Stafford, director of Jazz Studies and chair of Instrumental Studies, has played trumpet with the Orchestra for more than 20 years, while Oatts is a longtime faculty member.

“The Village Vanguard has essentially become another classroom for our students,” says Boyer College Dean Robert Stroker. “At Temple we’re all about building bridges to the professional world for our students, so this relationship provides an important opportunity to take jazz out of the Ivory Tower and onto the bandstand.”

Oatts’ tenure in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which began in 1976, is nearing the halfway point of its own centennial. But the saxophonist remains focused on the band’s future, never its past – however historic that past may be. “We’ve all taken on the responsibility to ensure that this legacy is going to stay true for the next hundred years.”