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Jackie McLean could have taken it easy in his career but his thirst for new sounds and musical adventures would not let him. Growing up in New York, he learned from some of the best teachers in the world. His father John McLean played guitar with Tiny Bradshaw. And the young altoist was friends with such neighbors as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Sonny Rollins. McLean was amazed by Charlie Parker but determined to find his own way. By the time he recorded with Miles Davis in 1951 at the age of 19, McLean already had his own sound on alto. He grew throughout the 1950s, worked with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and became more and more distinctive while mastering hard bop. And by 1959, the year that he signed with Blue Note, he was already listening to Ornette Coleman, freeing up his style, and playing with a constant intensity and passion.
McLean led 21 albums for Blue Note between 1959 and 1967. Jackie's Bag was his first and one of the greatest of all his recordings. Half of the album teams McLean with trumpeter Donald Byrd and pianist Sonny Clark in a quintet while the other matches the altoist with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and tenor-saxophonist Tina Brooks. During such highly original material as "Fidel," "Quadrangle" and "Appointment In Ghana," McLean plays with such uninhibited emotion that he sounds as if any note could be his last. He holds nothing back, creating music that still sounds fresh and futuristic today. The music of Jackie's Bag, which has now been reissued with superb sound, is simply unforgettable.
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