Although alto saxophonist Jackie McLean was elected to the Downbeat Hall of Fame in 2006, the year of his death, his election was some years behind such players as Eric Dolphy (1964), John Coltrane (1965), Ornette Coleman (1969) and Albert Ayler (1983) who played a more prominent role than McLean in the 1960s development of the music which was variously labelled as "free jazz", "fire music" or "avant-garde". After he moved on from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the late '50s, McLean recorded for Blue Note from 1959 through to 1967, altogether resulting in some twenty album releases between 1959 and 1980. Of those albums, the two which have been most praised over the years are Let Freedom Ring (1963) and One Step Beyond (1964). Rather than reissue those two together on one CD (yes, they would just fit) the ezz-thetics label's first McLean release paired Let Freedom Ring with another popular McLean album from the same era, Destination Out (1964). Their second McLean release pairs One Step Beyond with New And Old Gospel which was recorded and issued in 1967.
Where Let Freedom Ring had been recorded with McLean on alto sax, backed by piano, bass and drums, the quintet which recorded One Step Beyond, at Van Gelder Studio, on April 30th 1963, was more adventurous, featuring McLean with Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Eddie Khan on bass and seventeen-year-old Tony Williams on drums, a line-up which illustrates McLean's ability to spot and recruit talented players to his groups. Of the album's four pieces, "Saturday and Sunday" and "Blue Rondo" were McLean compositions while "Frankenstein" and "Ghost Town" were by Grachan Moncur III. Although the music on One Step Beyond still had traces of hard bop, its sound was more spacious and adventurous, in part because of the vibes replacing piano, and the second horn.
Fast forward six years to March 24th 1967 and, at the same studio, McLean was recording one of his last Blue Note albums, New And Old Gospel, with a different quintet comprising McLean on alto plus LaMont Johnson on piano, Scotty Holt on bass, Billy Higgins on drums and Ornette Coleman on trumpet. Yes, Coleman played trumpet throughout and nothing else. In addition, of the album's three pieces, the twenty-one-minute, four-part composition "Lifeline" was composed by McLean while the other two shorter pieces, "Old Gospel" and "Strange As It Seems", were credited to Coleman. McLean's groups had long since left hard bop behind and moved with the times. Although not "fire music" as such, Coleman's trumpet playing combined well with McLean's sax even though they had not played together before. Coleman admirers are sure to relish an entire album of Coleman on trumpet just as much as McLean fans will enjoy hearing the two together. Yes, there are two equally valid reasons to enjoy One Step Beyond To New And Old Gospel Revisited.
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