The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was formed in 1966. Both musicians had recently stopped touring and settled in New York. The orchestra was not originally intended to be a permnament thing but their first performance at the Village Vanguard went so well that they became a regular Monday night fixture there.

Thad Jones left the orchestra in 1978 to lead a Danish radio orchestra. At that time the orchestra became the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. When Mel Lewis died of cancer in 1990, the Orchestra became know as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.