Hip strut (Jackie Mclean) (LP 2237 - 2245)

Jackie Mclean New Soil (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1959) ***  

Jackie Mclean Swing, Swang, Swingin' (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1960) **** 

Jackie Mclean Capuchin Swing (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1960) ***  

Jackie Mclean Jackie's Bag (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1960) ****  

Jackie Mclean Bluesnik (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1961) **** 

Jackie Mclean Inta Somethin' (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1961) **   

Jackie Mclean A fickle Sonance (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1961) ****  

Jackie Mclean It's Time! (CD, Blue Note Records, 1964) ****  

Jackie Mclean Right Now! (CD, Blue Note Records, 1965) *****  

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: JB Hi-Fi for the multi-pack, last two CDs from Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I'll Take Romance (Swing, Swang, Swingin')

Gear costume: Fidel (Jackie's Bag); Das' Dat (It's Time!)

Active compensatory factors: I like the hard bop sound of Jackie Mclean's alto sax. The first 7 of these albums are presented on an eight album multi-pack (the first one of the 8 is Jackie's Scene which I've already written about).

New Soil was the first of Jackie's albums initially released on Blue Note. Donald Byrd appears alongside Jackie on trumpet - a sound that I struggle with. I much prefer Jackie on his own with a piano, bass, drum combo - which is what Swing, Swang, Swingin' is from 1960.

A great combo on that one - Jimmy Garrison on bass, Art Taylor on drums.

It was a hot year 1960 - three Jackie Mclean albums on Blue Note that year.

Capuchin Swing has Jackie back with a trumpet foil, this time it's Blue Mitchell.

I don't think Jackie ever made a bad album with Blue Note (or elsewhere for all I know - his catalogue is vast). It just comes down to personal preference.

Donald Byrd on some tracks, and Blue Mitchell on others, were back on trumpet, and an expanded band for the third album of 1960 - Jackie's Bag.

It's another hard-bop outing and good, but I still prefer the smaller combos and trumpet-less Jackie albums.

Side 2 of the album has Tina Brooks also playing tenor sax.

Bluesnik is one of his finest albums. This time Freddie Hubbard is the trumpet player. A review in Allmusic says: 'Many critics-as well as jazz fans hold to the opinion that Bluesnik may be McLean's most accessible session for the label... this is a monster session effortlessly performed by a soloist at an early peak and a supporting cast of blazing sidemen'

Inta Somethin' is a live album from 1961 which features Jackie playing with trumpeter Kenny Dorham.

As stated above, I'm not the biggest fan of the trumpet, Miles Davis excepted obvs.

I tend to shie away from albums that include a trumpeter, it's a hard sell for my wife, who hates the strident trumpet sound in a lot of jazz.

This album is really a Kenny Dorham date with Jackie along for the ride, so it features a lot of trumpet!

The final album in the multipack is A Fickle Sonance, also from 1961 with Tommy Turrentine the trumpeter featured.

The album sees Jackie on the cusp of developing a new style away from hard bop. I really like the questing spirit of this album. I can certainly hear the influence of John Coltrane on Jackie in some of these tunes.

The last two CDs in the list were bought when I lived in Al Ain. A few trips with my wife to Abu Dhabi always resulted in visits to Kings Recording - a CD shop that carried a large number of jazz CDs - and a lot of them on Blue Note.

I miss those trips!

It's Time! and Right Now! come from the mid sixties (he was fond of the exclamation mark!), where we are in modal post-bop territory.

Personnel on It's Time! include Herbie Hancock (he was everywhere) and Charles Tolliver on trumpet with Roy Haynes on drums.

Herbie is perfect for this sort of thrusting/demanding playing, he's continuously exploring new sonic territories and I'm sure that inspired Jackie et al.

I've left the best till last. Right Now! is my go-to Jackie Mclean album. 

Ever since I saw the cover in an album cover art book when I was a teenager, I've loved this record. So, my expectation was high when I finally found a copy in Kings Recording.

It met my expectation, and then some. Jackie doesn't need a trumpeter to create flurries of sound - he's best in this setting - with a pianist, bassist and drummer.

Don't just take my word for it though... Allmusic says: "Altoist McLean was at the peak of his powers during this period and, inspired by the versatile rhythm section... a particularly strong example of Jackie McLean's unique inside/outside music of the 1960s."

 

Where do they all belong? Next up in the jazz collection: Jay McShann