«Greetings From New York»

Best of the Thad Jones – Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

or more than sixty years, a big band has taken the stage every Monday night at New York’s legendary Village Vanguard jazz club. Originally known as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the ensemble now performs as the “Vanguard Jazz Orchestra”. The orchestra continues the tradition established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis in 1965, performing some of the finest big band music ever written, interpreted week after week by New York’s leading jazz musicians.

Over the decades, the orchestra’s distinguished roster of composers and arrangers has included not only Thad Jones himself, but also such legendary figures as Bob Brookmeyer, Michael Abene, and Jim McNeely. Their music has shaped generations of composers, arrangers, and performers and remains a benchmark for big band jazz around the world. For jazz enthusiasts, spending a Monday night at the Village Vanguard—at 178 Seventh Avenue South, on the corner of Waverly Place in Greenwich Village—is as essential to a visit to New York as seeing Times Square.

Fortunately, Swiss audiences do not have to cross the Atlantic to experience this extraordinary repertoire. The Zurich Jazz Orchestra brings the spirit and sound of the Vanguard tradition to Zurich’s own legendary jazz club, Moods.