Jackie McLean Jackie's Bag CD

By the late 1950's, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean had shaken off any comparisons to Charlie Parker (or other Parker followers), and had become a distinctive performer in his own right. JACKIE'S BAG, assembled from a couple of 1959 sessions, is a fantastic set of hard bop originals with hints of modality (think Miles Davis from this period) and the avant-garde (think Ornette Coleman, who later recorded with McLean). The original release bolstered by three bonus tunes, BAG is full of surging, moody and ominous-sounding jazz with plenty of wonderful solos from McLean, trumpeter Donald Byrd, and the under-recorded saxophonist Tina Brooks.

Jackie's Bag is split between two different recording sessions: the first, from January 1959, was the first session Jackie McLean ever led for Blue Note, and the second was a sextet date from September 1960 that featured tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks as a co-leader in all but name. According to the liner notes, McLean's first date produced only three songs of releasable quality, all of which are included here. Six tunes were cut at the Brooks session, all of which were issued in Japan as Street Singer and half of which appeared on the original Jackie's Bag LP; the CD reissue includes all six, making it the definitive word on both recording dates. Given the transitional time period of the first and Brooks' musical taste on the second, the music on Jackie's Bag finds McLean in a staunchly hard bop mode, with occasional hints of adventurousness. While McLean's debut performances are certainly well done, the most distinctive appeal of the album lies in the Brooks collaborations. There are exotic flavors to McLean's terrific "Appointment in Ghana" and Brooks' "Isle of Java"; of the newly added bonus tracks, Brooks' "Medina" has a particularly complex and memorable theme, and his "Street Singer" was actually issued on his own Back to the Tracks album as well. Despite crucial contributions from trumpeter Blue Mitchell and drummer Art Taylor, the real focal point of these performances is the complementary interplay between McLean and Brooks, the latter of whom does a nice job of matching the former's legendarily hard-edged tone. McLean devotees will want this anyway, but the quality of the Street Singer material pushes Jackie's Bag far beyond a simple gap-plugging historical release. [Also available with bonus tracks.] ~ Steve Huey

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on January 18, 1959. Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather and Bob Blumenthal.

Personnel: Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); Donald Byrd (trumpet); Kenny Drew, Sonny Clark (piano); Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor (drums).

Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder.

Liner Note Author: Bob Blumenthal.

Recording information: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliff, NJ (01/18/1959-??/??/2002); Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, NJ (01/18/1959-??/??/2002).

Photographer: Francis Wolff.

Personnel: Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); Donald Byrd, Blue Mitchell (trumpet); Sonny Clark, Kenny Drew (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Art Taylor, Philly Joe Jones (drums).