Jackie McLean – Action Blue Note Tone Poet Series 180g Vinyl
The albums leaps out of the gate with McLean's searing title track followed by two pensive Tolliver originals: "Plight" and "Wrong Handle." On a highly original version of the standard "I Hear a Rhapsody" the melody is answered by discordant interjections from the horns before the album comes to a close with McLean's grooving minor key piece "Hootnan."
Jackie McLean – Demon’s Dance – Blue Note (Tone Poet) 180g Vinyl
Jackie McLean’s music weaved in and out of the avant-garde throughout the 1960s with the brilliant 1963 inside-out dates One Step Beyond and Destination… Out! eventually leading to full-throated free jazz of the 1967 dates New and Old Gospel (featuring Ornette Coleman on trumpet) and ‘Bout Soul. Demon’s Dance, which was recorded in December 1967, found the alto saxophonist maintaining a decidedly post-bop edge with a spirited quintet comprised of trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist LaMont Johnson, bassist Scott Holt, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The six-song set presented a pair of tunes each by McLean, Shaw, and composer Cal Massey with highlights including McLean’s churning title track, Shaw’s tuneful bossa “Sweet Love of Mine,” and Massey’s brightly swinging “Message from Trane” in tribute to the great John Coltrane who had passed away early that year. But the album’s most striking feature may be the unforgettable cover artwork by Mati Klarwein whose work also graced the cover of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.
Jackie Mclean – Tippin’ The Scales Lp (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) Blue Note 180G Vinyl
Recorded in 1962 but not released until 1979, Jackie McLean’s album Tippin’ The Scales found the alto saxophonist and Blue Note stalwart leading a quartet with Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Art Taylor on drums through a stellar set of hard bop including originals by McLean, Clark, and Vernon Duke’s “Cabin in the Sky.”
This stereo Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.
