Jazz Articles about Jackie McLean

A Conversation with Jackie McLean

by AAJ Staff
July 14, 2021

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in October 1998. All About Jazz: You grew up in the same neighborhood as Bud Powell. How did he impact your life? And, what was Bud Powell the man like? Jackie McLean: He certainly lived in the vicinity of my neighborhood. He wasn't really a neighbor. I lived on 158th street and he lived on 140th, so it was quite a distance to walk. ...

Tina Brooks Quintet: The Complete Recordings

by Chris May
March 9, 2020

Mosaic Records' spring 2020 release The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70, the second of the label's box sets devoted to the copiously recorded (and rightly so) Hank Mobley, prompts thoughts of another of Blue Note's singular hard-bop tenor saxophone stylists. Unlike Mobley, Tina Brooks was woefully under-recorded, making just four albums under his own name. But like Mobley, Brooks had an instantly recognisable sound, was a spellbinding soloist and was also a gifted composer. In addition to his ...

Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 8, 2020

The music world has changed considerably since Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie founded their boutique reissue label Mosaic Records back in 1983. From its inception, vinyl was still the preferred format, shortly to be overtaken by the popularity of the compact disc. At the cusp of vinyl's recent resurgence, Mosaic briefly got back into that format only to find themselves on the brink of closing up shop. Fortunately, the powers that be have forged on and recent CD boxed sets ...

Two Different Fates - Jackie McLean & Tina Brooks (1960 - 1963)

by Russell Perry
February 18, 2020

Fate could not have treated Blue Note saxophonists Tina Brooks and Jackie McLean more differently. While McLean released nine LPs for Prestige and two dozen for Blue Note between 1956 and 1967, only one of Tina Brooks' four Blue Note sessions was released in his lifetime. Yet their collaborations on McLean's Jackie's Bag and the unreleased Brooks session Back to the Tracks, are among the highlights of the hard bop era. McLean went on to the record a series of ...

Worktime, One Step Beyond and Questions

by Marc Cohn
June 21, 2019

Charenee Wade starts us off offering wisdom, followed by questions posed by Jimmy Raney, Danny Grissett, Kenny Werner, John Ellis & Tal Farlow. Then, a major Sonny Rollins celebration with tracks from his monumental Worktime recording. We've also got a Jazz Times 'Top 50 of all time' alto sax session from Jackie McLean. More? Of course: Cassandra Wilson & The Fat Babies (doing Hoagy Carmichael), Brad Mehldau, J.J. Johnson & Ferenc Snétberger. Do enjoy the show! Thanks to ...

Jackie McLean: New Soil

by Greg Simmons
March 2, 2011

Jackie McLean's New Soil, is not the most acclaimed album in the classic Blue Note catalogue, but this 1959 release deserves more attention that it gets, being supremely well-played, well-written and--within the limitations of its time--well-recorded. This vinyl reissue, remastered from the original tapes by the good folks at Acous-Tech, is part of a series of albums--fifty titles in all, so far--that includes some of the most well-known Blue Note recordings from the 1950s and '60s, and may well represent ...

Jackie McLean: 4, 5 and 6 (RVG) & New Wine in Old Bottles

by Graham L. Flanagan
May 4, 2008

Jackie McLean 4, 5 and 6 (RVG) Prestige-Concord 2007 Jackie McLean New Wine In Old Bottles East Wind-Test of Time 2007

Although the late Jackie McLean might be best remembered for his more adventurous, improv-based recordings such as Destination Out!, Right Now!, Vertigo, etc., he made a major mark in the ...