What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Joseph K]

Miles Davis and Milt Jackson - Quintet/Sextet

Jackie McLean is something of a revelation to me.

[Joseph K]

Joe Pass - Joy Spring

[burning dog]

Joseph

You must hear this LP if you haven't already

One Step Beyond

Jackie McLean - alto saxophone
Grachan Moncur III - trombone
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Eddie Khan - bass
Tony Williams - drums


April 30, 1963

[Jazzrook]

Joseph

You must hear this LP if you haven't already

One Step Beyond

Jackie McLean - alto saxophone
Grachan Moncur III - trombone
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Eddie Khan - bass
Tony Williams - drums


April 30, 1963

Also, 'Destination Out!' with Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Ridley & Roy Haynes:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=ZfGlTIRyAvY

JR

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the recommendations, burning dog and JR.

[Stanfordian]

‘A Fickle Sonance’ - Jackie McLean
with Tommy Turrentine, Sonny Clark, Butch Warren & Billy Higgins
Blue Note (1961)

[Ian Thumwood]

I wish I had bought more Jackie McLean records when they were available. The two Blue Notes "Destination out" and "One step beyond" are incredible although I always think that "Let freedom ring" has some of the most unbooted playing produced on that label. There is a good case for arguing than McLean was one of the label's most consistent players. "Demon's Dance" is another great album although "New Gospel" is also worth a shout with the leader sharing the front line with Ornette's surprisingly effective trumpet. He is a player rather like Kenny Dorham who was good in the 1950s but became great in the 1960s. The Avid Dorham double CD has some live material with McLean on too which is similarly essential. A player I really admire.

[Serial_Apologist]

I wish I had bought more Jackie McLean records when they were available. The two Blue Notes "Destination out" and "One step beyond" are incredible although I always think that "Let freedom ring" has some of the most unbooted playing produced on that label. There is a good case for arguing than McLean was one of the label's most consistent players. "Demon's Dance" is another great album although "New Gospel" is also worth a shout with the leader sharing the front line with Ornette's surprisingly effective trumpet. He is a player rather like Kenny Dorham who was good in the 1950s but became great in the 1960s. The Avid Dorham double CD has some live material with McLean on too which is similarly essential. A player I really admire.

And Cornbread, alongside Lee Morgan as leader, a particularly good Hank Mobley on this date, Herbie Hancock, Larry Ridley and Billy Higgins - one of our Stanfordian's oft-chosens!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Jackie McLean - "Eco" from the Bluenote "Right Now!" with Larry Willis, Cranshaw and a ferocious Clifford Jarvis. It's a magnificent record, and to me, up there with the McLean/Moncur/Hutcherson Quintet. Jackie was incredibly powerful in this mid 60s period, just out of prison, and brilliant. "Jacknife" with Jack de J is in similar territory...

http://youtu.be/b7vdyrvJP3g

[Ian Thumwood]

Jackie McLean - "Eco" from the Bluenote "Right Now!" with Larry Willis, Cranshaw and a ferocious Clifford Jarvis. It's a magnificent record, and to me, up there with the McLean/Moncur/Hutcherson Quintet. Jackie was incredibly powerful in this mid 60s period, just out of prison, and brilliant. "Jacknife" with Jack de J is in similar territory...

http://youtu.be/b7vdyrvJP3g

It took me ages to appreciate McLean's playing, especially since adjectives like "sour" and "acidic" were often used by critics to describe his playing. I never felt that this was fair and , from the perspective of 2020, McLean is easily one of the most consistent performers on Blue Note. Many fans cut players more "fashionable" players on that label more slack even though there are moments when they might not necessarily sound like they are too interested in the music they were creating. By contrast, McLean always seems focussed and fully committed. Like Kenny Dorham, McLean seems ahead of his time and engaged with the more adventurous elements in the music at the time. "Let freedom ring" always struck me as having the intensity of a live set. The opening track "Melody for Melonae" has a brilliant piano solo by Walter Davis jr on it which has always given me the impression of him being restrained beast in a cage who is suddenly unleashed after a blistering solo by McLean. This is one of the great moments in jazz for me.

Personally, I feel that the Blue Note label was at it's best at that point in time the music was bridging Hard Bop and the then avant garde. The best music of the label is not necessarily by heavy hitters such as Mobley, Shorter, Silver, Coltrane or Blakey but, for my money, by players like McLean, Dorham , Hutcherson, Hill and Henderson who were liberated by the avant garde whilst still deeply rooted in harmony and composition. There is an intelligence in the work of these musicians and a degree of coordination which makes their records hold together better than a lot of the earlier free stuff of that time that was cropping upon labelslike Impulse. In my opinion the most "important" album in this transition is Kenny Dorham's "Whistle stop" which is probably one of the first ever "post-bop" records. It not only has Mobley's finest playing on record on it but I think Dorham's writing reaches new heights on this disc.

In listening to the jazz of the 50s and 60s, it is difficult not to fall in to the trap that Miles and Coltrane were setting the agenda and everyone else was following suit. The approach to writing of players like Dorham and Hill always strikes me as being more sophisticated than that of Coltrane. I feel that both were part of an amazingly innovative scene that was in operation parallel to Miles and Coltrane. You have to consider McLean in this mix too, the potency of his playing on something like "Let freedom ring" matching Coltrane's heady approach albeit in a markedly contrasting style. I think that Jackie McLean was not only a great player but someone who also had a great conception of what jazz was capable of as witnessed by the quintet with trombone and vibes in the front line. McLean is a player that is in danger of being overlooked these days just as someone like Kenny Dorham has been extremely esoteric. They are not as well known as they should be. If you like, Dorham's writing is almost like a proto version of Wayne Shorter's. You can pick up a 4LP Kenny Dorham disc from Avid for little more than a fiver and the last disc features two live sets with McLean sharing the front line. Different from Coltrane and Davis, but no less intense.

[Stanfordian]

‘The Waiting Game’ - Tina Brooks
with Johnny Coles, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones
Blue Note (recorded 1961: first released 2002)

[Serial_Apologist]

It took me ages to appreciate McLean's playing, especially since adjectives like "sour" and "acidic" were often used by critics to describe his playing. I never felt that this was fair and , from the perspective of 2020, McLean is easily one of the most consistent performers on Blue Note. Many fans cut players more "fashionable" players on that label more slack even though there are moments when they might not necessarily sound like they are too interested in the music they were creating. By contrast, McLean always seems focussed and fully committed. Like Kenny Dorham, McLean seems ahead of his time and engaged with the more adventurous elements in the music at the time. "Let freedom ring" always struck me as having the intensity of a live set. The opening track "Melody for Melonae" has a brilliant piano solo by Walter Davis jr on it which has always given me the impression of him being restrained beast in a cage who is suddenly unleashed after a blistering solo by McLean. This is one of the great moments in jazz for me.

Personally, I feel that the Blue Note label was at it's best at that point in time the music was bridging Hard Bop and the then avant garde. The best music of the label is not necessarily by heavy hitters such as Mobley, Shorter, Silver, Coltrane or Blakey but, for my money, by players like McLean, Dorham , Hutcherson, Hill and Henderson who were liberated by the avant garde whilst still deeply rooted in harmony and composition. There is an intelligence in the work of these musicians and a degree of coordination which makes their records hold together better than a lot of the earlier free stuff of that time that was cropping upon labelslike Impulse. In my opinion the most "important" album in this transition is Kenny Dorham's "Whistle stop" which is probably one of the first ever "post-bop" records. It not only has Mobley's finest playing on record on it but I think Dorham's writing reaches new heights on this disc.

In listening to the jazz of the 50s and 60s, it is difficult not to fall in to the trap that Miles and Coltrane were setting the agenda and everyone else was following suit. The approach to writing of players like Dorham and Hill always strikes me as being more sophisticated than that of Coltrane. I feel that both were part of an amazingly innovative scene that was in operation parallel to Miles and Coltrane. You have to consider McLean in this mix too, the potency of his playing on something like "Let freedom ring" matching Coltrane's heady approach albeit in a markedly contrasting style. I think that Jackie McLean was not only a great player but someone who also had a great conception of what jazz was capable of as witnessed by the quintet with trombone and vibes in the front line. McLean is a player that is in danger of being overlooked these days just as someone like Kenny Dorham has been extremely esoteric. They are not as well known as they should be. If you like, Dorham's writing is almost like a proto version of Wayne Shorter's. You can pick up a 4LP Kenny Dorham disc from Avid for little more than a fiver and the last disc features two live sets with McLean sharing the front line. Different from Coltrane and Davis, but no less intense.

Well "Let Freedom Ring" was recorded well before Coltrane entered Free terrain consistently, and Miles's quintet took on a much more radical perspective, it should be mentioned. McLean had a big influence on our own Mike Osborne; Dolphy as well, as John Surman pointed out quite recently. We can see how much further it was possible to take what Jackie and some of the other musicians mentioned in your post had been doing to, as you say, bridge that gap between Free and Post-bop.

[Joseph K]

Also, 'Destination Out!' with Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Ridley & Roy Haynes:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=ZfGlTIRyAvY

JR

Listening now.

[Joseph K]

Listening now.

Superb stuff - reminds how Roy Haynes is so great.

[elmo]

"Jackie's Bag" 1960 Blue Note - Jackie with Tina Brooks, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Drew, PC, and Art Taylor - " Appointment in Ghana" Classic stuff (Tina Brooks too)

https://youtu.be/WSRMvXu3Lzw

elmo