Jackie McLean

One step beyond....

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge.

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

- Kahlil Gibran

In the early 1990s, when I was living in Cupertino, I would often go to see old movies at the beautiful Stanford Theatre on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

The theater was purchased in 1987 for $7.7 million and restored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. At an additional cost of $6 million, its grand opening was the 1989 showing of The Wizard of Oz. It was magnificent. It also had "The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ" made by Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, which played before the movies or at intermission. Before catching a show there, I’d always visit Chimera Books and Music just down the street from the Stanford.

One night, I was browsing books and listening to the music playing over the store’s sound system. A man walked in and after a couple minutes asked the guy working behind the counter, “Who is this playing?” I immediately said to myself, that’s Jackie McLean. The man behind the counter looked up at the guy with an exasperated expression and said, “Man, you can’t tell who that is?” I laughed to myself because I could see where he was coming from - besides Charlie Parker, there is no more easily identifiable alto player than Jackie McLean. He just has that sound.

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Jackie McLean was born in New York City in 1931. His father played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw’s orchestra. After his father died when he was seven, his musical education began while working in his step-father’s record store. It was during this time that he befriended Bud Powell, who became his music teacher and mentor. During his high school years he played in a band with Kenny Drew, Sonny Rollins, and Andy Kirk Jr. (The great Andy Kirk’s son). By the age of 17, he was already playing with giants like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.

McLean’s earliest recording was on Mile Davis’ Prestige album Dig. A young Sonny Rollins also plays tenor on this album, and they are both playing soundly in the Charlie Parker mode.

Jackie McLean’s record output as a band leader is extensive. It began on the very obscure and short-lived two album New York label Ad Lib, where in 1955 he recorded Presenting… Jackie McLean:

In 1956, he joined Charlie Mingus’ band and began playing freer and more adventurous music like, Pithecanthropus Erectus. Later in 1956, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, where he stayed for nearly three years. During that time he signed an extensive contract with Prestige and recorded a string of hard bop albums, before signing with Blue Note in 1958. These Prestige and early Blue Note albums relied on the hard bop style he played in Art Blakey’s band and, therefore, was a step back to his more mainstream, pre-Mingus days.

A good example of this is his playing on Sonny Clark’s Cool Struttin’, the Blue Note juggernaut of the same name recorded in 1958:

Cool Struttin’ was McLean’s debut album for Blue Note. In 1959, the Blue Note heads recorded Jackie’s Bag and New Soil, the first of many McLean albums as a leader. In 1960, he recorded two of my favorite Blue Note albums: The Music from The Connection, as part of the Freddie Redd Quartet; and Street Singer with Tina Brooks - you can read and hear more about that here:

Tina Brooks

However, for this week’s journey, I only want to focus on a few Jackie McLean albums recorded during the 1960s, where the atmosphere was at its most demanding.

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The first of these important albums is Let Freedom Ring.

Recorded for Blue Note on March 1962, but not released until May 1963, this was McLean’s first album influenced by Free Music developments of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. With this album, McLean first incorporated the styles of the avant-garde and announced a change in direction - leaning forward into the future of Jazz.

Also in 1963, he recorded probably my second favorite jazz album of all time (Kind Of Blue is first, naturally): One Step Beyond:

From this seminal album, here is Ghost Town. Check out my all-time favorite jazz alto solo at the 2:57 minute mark - that first note is a killer:

One Step Beyond is the first of two pianoless albums, using instead young experimenter Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. The album also features the masterful Grachan Moncur III on trombone, the nephew of jazz saxophonist Al Cooper. McLean stated: “The new breed has inspired me all over again.” Here’s Blue Rondo, another classic from this album:

Also, recorded for Blue Note in 1963, McLean’s second album with this intrepid vibes/trombone line-up is Destination Out:

I think Jackie McLean’s best work is driven by great drummers: Pete La Rocca, Art Taylor, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and on McLean’s recording of Floogeh from his 1967 Blue Note album Demon Dance, Jack DeJohnette:

Here’s one more for the road. Also in 1967, Jackie McLean recorded on Jack Wilson’s Easterly Winds. From that terrific and seldom heard treasure, here is Nirvanna:

In 1979, during the time Jackie McLean was teaching music at the University of Hartford, Ken Levis released a beautiful, fiery documentary Jackie McLean on Mars. This short film tells the musical and academic story of Jackie McLean much better than I ever could.

Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in and explore more of the waters of the often over-looked piano player Jack Wilson.

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If you like what you’ve been reading and hearing so far on our journey and would like to share this with someone you think might be interested in learning more about our great American art form: Jazz, just hit the “Share” button at the bottom of the page. Also, if you feel so inclined, become a subscriber to my journey by hitting the “Subscribe” button here:

Also, find my playlist on Spotify: From Fred Astaire to Sun Ra.

Feel free to contact me at any time to talk shop. I welcome and encourage that.

Until then, keep on walking….