Old Detroit buddies and close musical colleagues, Thad Jones and Pepper Adams had a long history of empathy and shared successes when they made Mean What You Say in early 1966. This quintet had existed before establishment of the big band co-led by Jones and Mel Lewis, the orchestra of which Adams was so important a part. The title tune here, in fact, was transmuted into one of the Jones-Lewis orchestra's first recorded numbers. With Ron Carter and Duke Pearson, Adams, Jones, and Lewis recorded a session in which the music was full of lyricism, power, and humor. As in his big band charts, Jones's sophisticated writing is a major reason for the success of the session. There is also an original apiece from Carter and Pearson, and a wacky treatment of "Yes Sir, That's My Baby."

Mean What You Say, H and T Blues, Wives and Lovers, Bossa Nova Ova, No Refill, Little Waltz, Chant; Yes Sir, That's My Baby

with Duke Pearson, Ron Carter, Mel Lewis