Bombastic big-band jazz has never been my thing but this unique outfit was much subtler than the average and arguably one of the most underrated groups in jazz history. It's the fabled Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, which established some kind of loyalty record to a single venue. They played every Monday night at the Village Vanguard in New York for years, building a superb repertoire and setting the bar for the hundreds of rehearsal bands now functioning happily all over the world. Its members were session pros that managed to pay the mortgage by working in Manhattan's recording studios but longed for a regular jazz blow. Some were older, some were younger, but with such fine soloists as Pepper Adams, Bob Brookmeyer, Joe Farrell and Hank Jones among them the standard was always high. Thad Jones himself was not only a superbly original trumpeter and flugelhornman but also a gifted and original arranger. Throughout these tracks it's a pleasure to follow his B-section writing and scored riffs under the soloists. His originals weren't bad either. ‘A Child is Born’ is his best-known composition but there were others, like ‘Don’t Git Sassy', ‘Little Pixie’ and ‘Three in One’, all heard on this excellent two-disc compilation, much of it recorded live at the Vanguard. Mel Lewis was simply a groover. Never a flashy drummer, he didn't juggle his sticks or fashion long solos, but without him the band just didn't swing as hard. Brookmeyer and Manny Albam also wrote for the band, and other delights are ‘Yes Sir, That’s My Baby' and other bluesy numbers from the band's favourite diva, Miss Ruth Brown. Highly recommended.