Jackie McLean – Swing, Swang, Swingin’ (19601960/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 38:17 minutes | 428 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RevOla

“Swing, Swang, Swinging” is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. This album is a straight ahead affair in which he mostly puts his stamp on standards. Few versions of “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” and “I Love You” have ever had this much intensity and, when McLean digs into the ballad “What’s New”, he gives it a fiery passion that had never been heard before. Jackie McLean not only swings and swangs but he burns with the urgency, agony and ecstasy of the 1960s.
(more…)

Jackie McLean – One Step Beyond (1963/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:21 minutes | 1,47 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Originally released as Blue Note BLP 4137 (mono) and BST 84137 (stereo)

“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.

One Step Beyond was recorded and released in 1963, and features Jackie McLean as a bandleader and alto sax player. It hints at his future movement towards “new jazz”, but is still firmly rooted in hard bop.
(more…)

Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring (1962/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:08 minutes | 1,63 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Originally released as Blue Note BLP 4106 (mono) and BST 84106 (stereo)

“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.

When Jackie McLean’s Let Freedom Ring was released in 1962, it was soon recognized as a landmark and masterpiece in McLean’s discography. A hard bop sax player, McLean explored new avenues in jazz’s avant-garde styles on the album, as well as experimenting with the tonal limits of his instrument.
(more…)

Jackie McLean – Destination… Out! (1964/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:03 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Recorded on September 20, 1963, Destination… Out! is one of saxophonist Jackie McLean’s best album, full of complexity that demonstrates the his ability as a writer, arranger, and instrumentalist.
(more…)

Jackie McLean – Capuchin Swing (1960/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:38 minutes | 1,66 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Capuchin Swing is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label.

One of Jackie McLean’s more underrated albums from a plethora of Blue Note releases, 1960’s Capuchin Swing finds the bebop alto saxophonist in fine form on a mix of covers and originals. While his future fascination with Ornette Coleman’s free-form innovations can be sensed in some of the solos here, the majority of the album is in a classic hard bop vein. Like contemporaries Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, and Lee Morgan, though, McLean doesn’t just churn out pat jam-session fare, but comes up with consistently provocative charts and solos. Eschewing ballads, McLean focuses on mid- to fast-tempo swingers and blues. Standouts include originals like “Francisco” and “Condition Blue” and choice renditions of “Just for Now” and “Don’t Blame Me.” McLean enlists a sparkling lineup of hard bop stars, including trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Taylor. Mitchell particularly impresses, matching many of McLean’s own inspired flights with his supple and progressive playing. Along with other fine Blue Note titles like Jackie’s Bag and Bluesnik, Capuchin Swing makes for a great introduction to McLean’s extensive catalog.
(more…)

Jackie McLean – 4, 5 And 6 (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:21 minutes | 542 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Prestige

This album of ballads and burners features sax man Jackie McLean in various small-group combinations. He is joined on three numbers by Hank Mobley and on two numbers by Donald Byrd (one of those numbers also including Mobley). The other three cuts are jazz quartets. Thus, the album title refers to the three personnel configurations used over the two recording dates.

This was McLean’s third album as leader and second for Prestige. The LP at the time helped to establish McLean on the jazz scene. Writing in the original notes, Ira Gitler said, “Jackie McLean is musically coming of age. His playing, out of Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, has become a personalized, more individual voice in 1956 and he has not lost any of the basic emotion, swinging qualities that help his style live up to the second syllable of his last name so well.”
(more…)