Mel Lewis Mel Lewis artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Mel Lewis

Subscribe to Best of NPR Newsletter

Thad Jones composed, arranged, conducted and played trumpet and flugelhorn for the jazz orchestra he led with drummer Mel Lewis. Ray Avery/CTS Images hide caption

toggle caption

Ray Avery/CTS Images

Songs We Love

Songs We Love: Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, 'Backbone'

February 11, 2016 • The first-ever gig of the most influential jazz big band of the last 50 years has emerged. It lays complex arrangements over simple blues forms. It also swings like crazy.

01Backbone

13:22

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/466304643/466308224" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Buy Featured Music

Song
Backbone
Album
All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Village Vanguard Recordings
Artist
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
Label
Resonance
Released
2016

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?
- Amazon