The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (57 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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Page 238
("Embraceable You," "I Cover the Waterfront," and "These Foolish Things'') by a quartet with Mal Waldron at the piano which have McLean in a soulful and inventive groove; side one is taken up by a long blues by the same band that performed "Jackie's Ghost" on
Makin' the Changes
, prefaced with a snatch of a studio argument among the musicians. This is a thoroughly rewarding set. Lastly, McLean teams up with fellow ornithologist John Jenkins for
Alto Madness
(Prestige/OJC-1733), a straight-ahead blowing session during the course of which you will hear enough bebop alto to last you for a while, played expertly, to be sure. If this style is your bag, this set is worth buying. Another track from the same session, not included on
Alto Madness
, shows up on
Bird Feathers
(New Jazz/OJC-1735), a collection of bebop alto also featuring cuts by Hal McKusick and the team of Phil Woods and Gene Quill.
One Step Beyond
McLean's work for Blue Note is, in general, fresher, better recorded, and more interesting than his Prestige recordings. The Prestige sets mostly have the air of a bunch of guys coming into the studio, blowing on some standards, collecting their money, and leaving; even the loosest Blue Notes are more thoughtout and pulled together. McLean had been doing some real growing musically; his playing could be mistaken for no one else's at this point, and his originals tend to be real originals, not just new lines on familiar changes.
Jackie's Bag
(Blue Note 46142) may be the all-around best and most varied of the Blue Notes. It consists of material from a 1959 quintet date with Donald Byrd on trumpet and a rhythm section of Sonny Clark, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, as well six titles from a 1960 date with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, neglected tenorman Tina Brooks, and a rhythm section of Kenny Drew, Chambers, and Art Taylor. The three 1959 tracks really sparkle; they include McLean's "Quadrangle," a very unusual composition which the altoist says he originally conceived of as a modal tune, to which he put the "I Got Rhythm" chord changes at the last moment, "Fidel," a happy, AABA swinger with a surprising melody, and "Blues Inn," a durable blues. McLean is still more or less in his bebop bag, harmonically.
The 1960 date shows that McLean had been thinking about the modal work that was influencing many in jazz at the time, in which soloists would play on only one or two scales during their solos, rather than negotiating a harmonic obstacle course. This session produced McLean's famous modal piece "Appointment in Ghana," as well as the extremely beautiful "Ballad for Doll," a feature for Kenny Drew's piano. McLean plays very strongly, evoking tenor player Dexter Gordon at times. His abilities as a composer and leader had developed to a high degree by this time, and the set is a good example of the pos-
 
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sibilities in the small-band format when some time is taken to plan an interesting context. Highly recommended.
New Soil
(Blue Note 84013) is an exceptional 1959 quintet date with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Walter Davis, Jr., on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and drummer Pete La Roca. The set includes four good Davis originals and two by McLean, including the up-tempo "Minor Apprehension," on which La Roca takes a staggering five-chorus Cubist drum solo that has to be heard. Everyone swings hard, no one harder than the leader.
Bluesnik
(Blue Note 84067) was recorded in 1961 with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and a fine rhythm section consisting of Kenny Drew, Doug Watkins, and, again, the brilliant Pete La Roca. This is a set of blues and blues-derived tunes in different rhythmic settings, including the way-up title track, the six-eight-accented, after-hours-groove "Goin' Way Blues," and the gospel-inflected "Torchin'." It, too, is first-rate both in its solo work and the extraordinary variety presented in what could have been a repetitive program. McLean preaches and exhorts in top form throughout.
Let Freedom Ring
(Blue Note 46527), from 1962, consists of three McLean compositions and one by Bud Powell ("I'll Keep Loving You," a favorite of McLean's to this day). The brooding, somewhat eerie "Melody for Melonae" is a McLean classic, with an out-of-tempo, conducted theme (faintly reminiscent of Monk's ''Brilliant Corners"), which shifts into a straight-ahead, minor scale for blowing. McLean is working with an extended repertoire of techniques here, overblowing to achieve some extraordinarily high pitches, as well as occasionally using alternate fingerings in which the same pitch can be fingered in two ways with a subtly different sound. His playing here, as throughout, is amazingly intense. You can tell he had been hearing Ornette Coleman in his playing and writing (check out his witty blues line "Rene"). Pianist Walter Davis, Jr., bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Billy Higgins are exemplary.
One Step Beyond
(Blue Note 46821) was recorded in 1963 with an unusual instrumentation of trombone (Grachan Moncur III), vibes (Bobby Hutcherson), Eddie Khan's bass, and the extraordinary drumming of Tony Williams, who would soon go on to make a large name for himself with Miles Davis's quintet. This set continues the compositional adventurousness of
Let Freedom Ring
and never stops swinging. McLean's "Saturday and Sunday" is an interesting piece with contrasting slow and fast themes, which shifts into up-tempo for blowing, and his "Blue Rondo" is a contrapuntal blues. The altoist was obviously continuing to experiment with his sound and had obtained fantastic control in all registers. This album and
Let Freedom Ring
are great examples of the way some of the devices and techniques of the avant-garde of
 
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the time could be used by thoroughly schooled musicians to broaden the music's canvas.
Two of McLean's best Blue Note albums are currently available only as Japanese imports, but you should at least know that they are out there. For McLean at his bebop best, track down
Swing, Swang, Swingin'
, a 1959 quartet date on which pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., Jimmy Garrison (who later played bass in John Coltrane's great quartet), and drummer Art Taylor grill up a take-no-prisoners groove under McLean's versions of tasty standards like "I Remember You," "I Love You," and ''What's New." This album consists of the highest level of straight-ahead swinging and melodic invention on chord changes, in the tradition of Charlie Parker's quartet album
Now's the Time
(Verve 825 671-2), and is worth having at any price. The same rhythm section, with Paul Chambers on bass in place of Garrison, powers 1960's ferocious
Capuchin Swing
, on which McLean is joined by trumpeter Blue Mitchell in a hard-cooking set. The highlight is probably the very hot "Francisco," which cuts back and forth between a Latin groove and some straight-ahead swinging.
McLean was in demand as a sideman throughout the 1950s, recording at various times with the groups of Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey. With Mingus, McLean can be heard to advantage on
Pithecanthropus Erectus
(Atlantic 8809-2) and, especially, on
Blues and Roots
(Atlantic 1305-2). With Davis, McLean made his first recording session at the age of nineteen, available as
Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins: Dig
(Prestige/OJC-005). He also guests with the trumpeter on
Miles Davis, Volume 1
(Blue Note 81501) and
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson: Quintet/Sextet
(Prestige/OJC-012). With Blakey, McLean can be heard on
Theory of Art
(RCA/Bluebird 6286-2-RB). He is also a sideman on any number of Blue Note records of the late 1950s and 1960s; one famous date to which he contributes heavily is pianist Sonny Clark's
Cool Struttin'
(Blue Note 46513), a cooking, bebop-based 1958 session with Art Farmer on trumpet and a rhythm section rounded out by Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
But McLean's finest hour as a sideman must be the 1960 quartet recording of the music from the Off-Broadway show
The Connection
, in which McLean also acted. The session, under the leadership of pianist Freddie Redd, who composed the music, is available on
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Freddie Redd
(Mosaic MD2-124). In addition to the music from the show, which consists mainly of furious, up-tempo cooking in a bebop vein, this set contains the music from another 1960 Redd session, long out of print as
Shades of Redd
, which pairs McLean with tenorist Tina Brooks, as well as a previously unissued 1961 session featuring McLean, Brooks, and trumpeter Benny Bailey. Redd is a limited piano soloist, but as an accompanist he is just
 
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fine, and his compositions, especially the ballads (check out "Just a Ballad for My Baby" from the
Shades of Redd
session), are invariably interesting and sensitive, full of attention to dynamics, tempo shifts, and harmonic alertness. They certainly inspire McLean to heights of expression. This set is absolutely essential for McLean fans.
Cannonball Adderley
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley exploded onto the New York music scene in 1955, having just arrived from Florida, where he was a music teacher. He was a fiery player, a florid and romantic improviser who was unquestionably influenced by Bird, but he also had strong roots in swing and blues approaches. He loved to swoop up into the high reaches of his horn for emotional effect, and his work sometimes had an almost giddy exultation in it. He gigged around New York with his own groups for a couple of years before joining Miles Davis's band (which included John Coltrane) in 1958, expanding the quintet to a sextet. When he left Davis it was to lead his own band, most of the time with his brother, Nat, on trumpet.
Spontaneous Combustion
(Savoy ZD70816) contains the first session Adderley recorded, days after he arrived in the Apple, under drummer Kenny Clarke's leadership, as well as a session from several weeks later under his own leadership. The set contains a wide spectrum of material, including the up-tempo "Chasm," Oscar Pettiford's mysterioso minor-key line "Bohemia After Dark," the ballad "Willow Weep for Me," and two tunes that show Adderley's penchant for riff-based, roots-and-blues home cooking - ''Hear Me Talkin' to Ya" and "Spontaneous Combustion." Adderley's preaching, shouting style is heard to good advantage here, in a true blowing-session setting.
Adderley's tenure with Miles Davis's band is well documented and includes two indisputable jazz classics,
Milestones
(Columbia CK 40837) and
Kind of Blue
(Columbia CK 40579). Adderley's playing on both sessions set standards that he would approach but never surpass for inventiveness and lyricism. His blistering exchanges with Coltrane on
Milestones
' "Dr. Jackle" (a Jackie McLean tune called "Dr. Jekyll" on the disc), his soaring leadoff solo on the same album's "Miles," and every note he plays on
Kind of Blue
are high points of his career and of jazz history. Both sets are essential for anyone interested in jazz.
Adderley plays wonderfully on every track of
Miles Davis '58 Sessions: Featuring "Stella by Starlight
" (Columbia CK 47835), especially on "Love for Sale, where he fairly bursts with imagination and swing. Three tunes recorded by the sextet at the Plaza Hotel that summer are also very hot.
Miles and Coltrane
(Columbia CK 44052) consists mainly of five tracks recorded at the
 
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1958 Newport Jazz Festival by the sextet, on which Adderley takes hard-hitting solos throughout - not an essential item, but a valuable supplementary document of the band's activities.
Adderley recorded two very good albums under his own leadership using his cohorts from the Davis band.
Somethin' Else
(Blue Note 46338) features Miles Davis in the unaccustomed role of sideman, side-by-side with the altoist in front of a dream rhythm section of Hank Jones, Sam Jones, and Art Blakey, for a truly all-star date. The results are as good as you might expect, generally on the mellow side, with tunes like "Autumn Leaves," "Dancing in the Dark," and the blues "One for Daddy-O'' setting a moody, late-afternoon groove that is unique to this session. The set also includes a fine version of "Love for Sale" and an extra tune recorded that day, "Alison's Uncle," which was not released on the original LP, perhaps because its up-tempo, bop-flavored melody and chord changes make it so different in mood from the rest of the music here. This is one of those sets that everyone should own.
Recorded a year later,
Cannonball and Coltrane
(EmArcy 834 588) features the Davis band of the time minus its leader. There is a lot of good music here, including some high-velocity Adderley-Coltrane exchanges on "Limehouse Blues" that rival those on
Milestones
' "Dr. Jackle" and a gorgeous Adderley ballad performance of "Stars Fell on Alabama." Something about this set is a little tiring, though, despite the uniformly high quality of the playing. I think it is that the horn players are both intense, multinote players; they don't provide enough of a contrast to each other. With Davis rounding out the front line, there was the perfect tart counterweight to all that heat. Pianist Wynton Kelly fills that role to some extent here, but still the set feels a little lopsided.
Adderley made many records as a leader, a good number of them fairly casual situations in which a loose, blowing atmosphere reigned.
Cannonball's Sharpshooters
(Mercury 826 986-2) is one of the best (and best organized) of these, a highly charged set in which the altoist is paired with his brother, trumpeter Nat, and a rhythm section including a surging, well-recorded Sam Jones on bass. This is one of the lesser-known Adderley albums, but it is a true smoker. The repertoire is drawn mainly from jazz standards associated with the boppers - Tadd Dameron's "Our Delight" and "Stay On It" and Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," for example. Adderley flies high (especially on his aptly named original, "Jubilation"), and the group put some effort into working out arrangements that would enhance the album's cooking ambience. A highly recommended set.
Portrait of Cannonball
(Riverside/OJC-361) has Adderley with trumpeter Blue Mitchell in front of an interesting-looking rhythm section of Bill Evans, Sam Jones, and Philly Joe Jones, but this is one of 'Ball's lesser efforts. It has a

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