Jackie McLean's Post-1975 Recordings (All Labels)

[Stefan Wood]

Dynasty is a brilliant album. I don't understand how those who love his 60s material could be turned off by this album.

[Leeway]

Dynasty is a brilliant album. I don't understand how those who love his 60s material could be turned off by this album.

I don't think the question was about being turned off, it was about demurring from the statement: "Dynasty" (Triloka) is as great as anything Jackie ever recorded. For me at least, that's a bridge too far.

[danasgoodstuff]

I'd grab whichever two were worth the most so I could replace the rest of 'em just as soon and cheaply as possible. Having all the Jackie Mac, or at least all the Bluenotes, is a necessary thing - unless I was jumping out of the fire and into the frying pan!

[Steve Reynolds]

Let Freedom Ring and Bluesnik

[Clunky]

2 albums is an almost impossible ask but I'd go for

Let Freedom Ring

Destination Out

[soulpope]

Let Freedom Ring and Bluesnik

Agreed........but had by concidence "New and Old Gospel" with a friend and got it back the day following the fire ......giving me the chance to re-evaluate a platter i never really understood....

Edited December 3, 2014 by soulpope

[Stefan Wood]

Dynasty is a brilliant album. I don't understand how those who love his 60s material could be turned off by this album.

I don't think the question was about being turned off, it was about demurring from the statement: "Dynasty" (Triloka) is as great as anything Jackie ever recorded. For me at least, that's a bridge too far.

IMO, it is as good as anything he has done.

[AllenLowe]

interested in Chuck's comments about mics; a lot of times engineers will use ribbons on strong players, and they give a weirdly transparent, dislocated sound. I will only use an 87, which is the classic. Though I still hate Yamaha horns. Though they do kind of play themselves, which allows me to take frequent bathroom breaks.

Edited December 3, 2014 by AllenLowe

[mjzee]

I saw Jackie, backed by Cedar Walton's trio, at the Vanguard in (IIRC) December 2004. Cedar's trio opened up, and they did a great set. Then Jackie came out, and it just didn't get to me the way Cedar did. It was professional and all, but didn't really dig deep. Maybe it's because it was the first set, I dunno.

Here's where I get to trot out my one Jackie McLean anecdote. Before Cedar came on, I had to go to the bathroom. Someone pointed vaguely towards the kitchen. I enter, and there's Jackie on a folding chair, warming up. I listened for a little while, then said "Mr. McLean, can I ask you something?" He looked up and said "Sure." I said "Where's the bathroom?" He laughed and pointed the way.

[Hot Ptah]

I saw Jackie, backed by Cedar Walton's trio, at the Vanguard in (IIRC) December 2004. Cedar's trio opened up, and they did a great set. Then Jackie came out, and it just didn't get to me the way Cedar did. It was professional and all, but didn't really dig deep. Maybe it's because it was the first set, I dunno.

Here's where I get to trot out my one Jackie McLean anecdote. Before Cedar came on, I had to go to the bathroom. Someone pointed vaguely towards the kitchen. I enter, and there's Jackie on a folding chair, warming up. I listened for a little while, then said "Mr. McLean, can I ask you something?" He looked up and said "Sure." I said "Where's the bathroom?" He laughed and pointed the way.

That is very funny!

[Milestones]

I have to say that "A House is Not a Home" and "Nature Boy" are just great Jackie McLean performances and stand right beside his greatest work.

[David Ayers]

Dr. McLean.

[Eric]

I have to say that "A House is Not a Home" and "Nature Boy" are just great Jackie McLean performances and stand right beside his greatest work.

Wow - checked out "Nature Boy" - that is a nice one.

[AndrewHill]

That's an awesome story !

[kh1958]

I saw Jackie, backed by Cedar Walton's trio, at the Vanguard in (IIRC) December 2004. Cedar's trio opened up, and they did a great set. Then Jackie came out, and it just didn't get to me the way Cedar did. It was professional and all, but didn't really dig deep. Maybe it's because it was the first set, I dunno.

Here's where I get to trot out my one Jackie McLean anecdote. Before Cedar came on, I had to go to the bathroom. Someone pointed vaguely towards the kitchen. I enter, and there's Jackie on a folding chair, warming up. I listened for a little while, then said "Mr. McLean, can I ask you something?" He looked up and said "Sure." I said "Where's the bathroom?" He laughed and pointed the way.

That is very funny!

A blogger's guide to jazz club restrooms: http://www.jazztoilet.com

Edited December 4, 2014 by kh1958

[John Tapscott]

I don't think anyone has mentioned Capuchin Swing and I understand that. It's on the more conservative side esp. compared to the rest of Jackie's BN recs. No real forward looking stuff here. But man there's some good playing on that recording. Jackie just sings his heart out and Blue Mitchell nearly matches him. The rhythm section is very solid. I think it's one of the happiest recordings Jackie ever made, or maybe joyful is a better word.

Anyway, I would be OK if all that I could grab on the way out were Capuchin Swing and the Mosaic set. I'd miss the rest but I would be OK.

Edited December 4, 2014 by John Tapscott

[JSngry]

Capuchin Swing, yes...the first time I heard it was in...1981? And I had been listening to a lot of rap at the time. There was one spot on Side 2 where Jackie played this one lick and I said HOLY SHIT, THAT'S A RAP LINE!!! Because, you know, it was.

I've never been able to find it again, maybe I was a little stoned at the time, but yes, Jackie's rhythm/voice, very "street" sometimes, how could it not be, and there's all that to think about as well, not unlike Max playing with the break-dancers, continuitizing certain things so not everybody wakes up one day and has forgotten. Because most people will, just as a fact of life, so, build your defenses as/where you can.

[felser]

Those Blue Note hard bop albums, "Capuchin Swing", "Bluesnik", "Jackie's Bag" and the like, were wonderful.

[Chuck Nessa]

but they do not belong in a post 1975 thread.

[JSngry]

THAT's the spirit!

[John Tapscott]

but they do not belong in a post 1975 thread.

Yeah I thought about that but I was answering the question - which two would you grab - and I don't think the question was intended to be restricted to post -75.

[Mark Stryker]

... maybe I was a little stoned at the time ...

What were the odds?

[Mark Stryker]

I know I perhaps hi-jacked my own thread by posing the question of which two records would grab out of your burning house -- but I've avoided answering myself because it's so damn hard. Almost positive that one of them would be "One Step Beyond." But choosing the second one, whew .... I mean, I want Swing, Swang, Swingin', "Bluesnik," the bebop half of "Hipnosis," "Jacknife" and, to put my money where my mouth has been, "Dynasty."

Shoulda said you could take three ...

[JSngry]

... maybe I was a little stoned at the time ...

What were the odds?

Upon further review, it was 1980, so the odds were better than 50-50.

I recall the time on Board Krypton, somebody asked tomatbluenote, hey, these recent Jackie McLean Blue Note records have been great, when's the next one, and tomat, honest man that he was/is, had to say, well, they're not really blue Note, they're leased from Japan, and you now, we'd love to have the money to make Jackie McLean records from now until infinity but we don't, and we're not, and that was that.

Honest answer, and reflective of the reality, but if Jackie developed sort of a detached protectiveness about playing being all he did to define himself, well hey, no money for no records, c'est la vie, am I going to be the one to say, oh Jackie, no, don't do that? No, I'm not.

Having a casual/random listen to Nature Boy right now, and that's just a sweet record, the kind of thing that has no real "moment", yet leaves the cumulative effect of wow, that's deep. Jackie, Cedar, Billy, and that kid, David Williams, "sound of surprise" my ass, this is the sound of, like Donny Hathaway said (through the pen of Leon Ware), there's no need to look, cause you know who's there.

Not that I don't value the sound of surprise, hell, yes, I do, but I Know It's You is of no small importance as well. At some point, the shift of investment moves from music in the abstract to the ongoing-ment voices of the people. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", damn, that's pure I Know It's You, and if it's not my baby's arms having been around me a long time, it IS Jackie/Cedar/Billy's voices, they too have been around me a long time, and they too have passed the test, through the good and the bad, and THIS is why I want to post...

[clifford_thornton]

Capuchin Swing is one of maybe two early Jackie sides I do not own, oddly enough.