The Complete Blue Note UA/Roulette Recordings of Thad Jones

Before he became a linchpin for groundbreaking contemporary big band the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Jones was one of the most distinctive, if atypical, figures of the hard-bop era. His advanced sense of compositional form and his arresting, dissonance-laced trumpet playing highlight The Complete Blue Note UA/Roulette Recordings of Thad Jones, an absorbing set of all-star small-group sessions. B+