Mssr_Renard
It took my a while to get into Jackie McLean. I always thought his style was to sterile en devoid of the rawness I so often enjoy in saxophonists. But apparantly it is not his style but his choice of instrument.
To this day I mostly listened to tenorists while Jackie is an altist. (I have listened to Cannonball Adderly and of recently dug deep into Arthur Blythe's output).
An alto saxophone is something completely different than a tenor saxophone. A tenor growls more and an alto is more subtile and has a more sophisticated sound.
This album by Jackie (I bought this one and Destination Out in one buy), is what the title suggests: a very bluesy album. A nice balance of uptempo swingers and more midtempo bluesy songs.
Jackie has surrounded him with excellent other bluesy players like the severely underrated pianist Kenny Drew (I really like his playing with Dexter Gordon) and the Freddie Hubbard who seems to be able to play any style.
I am not all that familiar with both LaRoca and Watkins, but they sound very tight and they a very groovy and swinging foundation to wich Jackie and Freddie can really improvise. A perfect example of how tight the interplay of the five guys is, is the first song of Side B, wich is an infectious uptempo bopper with outstanding walking bass, and some very fine syncopated snare-hits by LaRoca.
All in all a very nice hardbop-album with a nice emphasis on the bluesy side of things, but with an uplifting feel and a good swing throughout to tap your feet and snap your fingers.
I bought the Blue Not Classic Vinyl edition and as always in the series, the sound is crisp, warm and the mastering is impeccable.