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- The Analog Vault // Essential Listening -

Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean was already a veteran of the NYC jazz scene by the time he began recording as a leader for Blue Note in 1959. His 1960s output ran the gamut from hard bop to the avant-garde with his 1964 post-bop dates It’s Time! and Action splitting the difference. Trumpeter Charles Tolliver had appeared alongside McLean in the horn frontline on It’s Time! and returned once again for Action the next month, with McLean opting for Bobby Hutcherson’s vibraphone in place of piano, as well as Cecil McBee on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. The albums leaps out of the gate with McLean’s searing title track followed by two pensive Tolliver originals: “Plight” and “Wrong Handle.”

On a highly original version of the standard “I Hear a Rhapsody” the melody is answered by discordant interjections from the horns before the album comes to a close with McLean’s grooving minor key piece “Hootnan.” — (via Blue Note)

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Label: Blue Note
Series: Blue Note Tone Poet Series
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, 180g, Gatefold
Country: Worldwide
Released: Mar 1, 2024 / Original Release: 1967
Genre: Jazz
Style: Hard Bop, Modal, Post Bop
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File under: Blue Note Tone Poet Series