AMG Review of New Life: Dedicated to Max Gordon

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This LP has extensive packaging (thanks to producer John Snyder) and decent but not overly memorable music. The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra's best recordings were for Solid State and Blue Note, although they still boasted an impressive all-star personnel during the mid-1970s. The seven selections (five arranged and composed by Jones and one apiece by Jerry Dodgion and Cecil Bridgewater) do not include any future standards. There are fine solos from the likes of flugelhornist Jones, Greg Herbert and Frank Foster on tenor, Roland Hanna and Walter Norris on piano, trumpeters Cecil Bridgewater and Waymon Reed, baritonist Pepper Adams, and others, so the music is not without its interesting moments. But in general, the solos and arrangements are more memorable than the melodies. This LP has not yet been reissued on CD.