Jackie McLean – Swing, Swang, Swingin’ (1960/2019) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

“Swing, Swang, Swinging” is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. This album is a straight ahead affair in which he mostly puts his stamp on standards. Few versions of “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” and “I Love You” have ever had this much intensity and, when McLean digs into the ballad “What’s New”, he gives it a fiery passion that had never been heard before. Jackie McLean not only swings and swangs but he burns with the urgency, agony and ecstasy of the 1960s.

One of Jackie McLean’s earliest Blue Notes, Swing, Swang, Swingin’ parts company with the vast majority of his output for the label by concentrating chiefly on standards (only one of the seven tunes is a McLean original). Perhaps as a result of Blue Note’s more prepared, professional approach to recording sessions, McLean sounds invigorated here, catapulting each melody forward before launching into a series of impassioned improvisations. Not that every track is a mind-blowing meltdown – McLean’s playing always fits the mood of the song – but his total commitment to the material is evident throughout the album. He’s also very much the focal point of the quartet, which includes pianist Walter Bishop, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Art Taylor. McLean’s unique, cutting tone – always threatening to go ever so slightly out of tune – lends a particular urgency to his melody statements and extended notes, highlighted by an intense and swinging version of Cole Porter’s “I Love You” and an exuberant take on Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” Though Bishop and Taylor are less well-known than their compatriots, they offer active support that helps push McLean even more. Swing, Swang, Swingin’ may not be as groundbreaking as McLean’s more modernist work, but it’s a solid session from an artist just beginning an incredible hot streak.

Tracklist:

01 – What’s New?
02 – Let’s Face The Music And Dance
03 – Stablemates
04 – I Remember You
05 – I Love You
06 – I’ll Take Romance
07 – 116th And Lenox

Produced by Alfred Lion. Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder.
Recorded on October 2, 1959 at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Musicians:
Jackie McLean – alto saxophone
Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Art Taylor – drums

Download:

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