During the second half of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was the world"s most successful band when it comes to creatively developing swinging big band jazz. This musically outstanding and extremely inventive outfit set the tone for everybody else in the genre. The band played their first public gig at the Village Vanguard in New York City on Monday, February 7, 1966 and staged their very last concert in late October 1978 in Berlin. This CD is a veritable rarity in memoriam, as it contains the very last live recordings of the now legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.