(Shade Street Records)

Arranger Vance Thompson artfully pushes the large ensemble envelope with his band The Thompson Five Plus Six and their debut recording Such Sweet Thunder. A core quintet which features Thompson on trumpet, Greg Tardy on saxophone, Keith Brown on piano, Taylor Coker on bass and Nolan Nevels on drums, is augmented by six additional horns to expand the sonic range. While the sound is bigger, this is not your archetype big band, with a song list that moves from swings to ballads. Thompson leads this exposition through some interesting territory, with nicely re-worked compositions by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk and Dolly Parton, exemplifying the versatility of the unit. This is a wonderfully done first effort.