VANGUARD JAZZ ORCHESTRA

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The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra began its life as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1966.The world-famous Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City booked the newly formed band for three Monday nights that February. Those performances were wildly successful and the engagement was extended indefinitely. The Village Vanguard’s owner, Max Gordon, told Mel Lewis, “We’ll keep it going until it tapers off.” Over half a century and more than 2700 Monday nights later, it still hasn’t. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra stands apart from all other modern ensembles of its kind and is still as strong and vital as ever.

“Mr. Wendel is a naturally inquisitive musician whose credentials branch out beyond jazz. (He briefly toured with Snoop Dogg.) He’s a member of Kneebody, a postmillennial groove band with a sizable following, as well as an accomplished solo artist and producer.

“an endlessly compelling drummer, whose interests include the more hypnotic properties of groove

“The indefatigable risk taker.

“Mr. Frisell can pen a tender ballad, and wring from it both complex musical ideas and straightforward emotion. He can thrash his way through distortion and feedback without losing his melodic thread. He swings playfully yet forcefully, then sounds as if relaxing around a campfire. And it all fits a single narrative.

“Mr. Frisell can pen a tender ballad, and wring from it both complex musical ideas and straightforward emotion. He can thrash his way through distortion and feedback without losing his melodic thread. He swings playfully yet forcefully, then sounds as if relaxing around a campfire. And it all fits a single narrative.

“Joe Lovano is a once-in-a-generation improviser whose sound seems to create its own atmosphere

“Changes come and go in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood, but the basement club occupying 178 Seventh Avenue South since 1935 remains a stable and revered New York City landmark.