Search - Jackie Mclean :: Bluesnik

Pushing the blues

nadav haber | jerusalem Israel | 09/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What comes to mind when listening to the music here, is that it is the opposite of the way Hank Mobely and his group played on Soul Station.
Mclean and his group are playing a whole album based on the 12 bar (or 16 bar) blues form, but they approach the blues from a whole different place. There is no softness or gentleness here. The blues is attacked with full force by all participents. Even the second track, which is at a slow tempo, is played double and triple time by Mclean and Hubbard.
I feel that for the overall sound of the CD, some balance is missing, some relaxed, layed back moments that would ease the tension. This is why I would not recommend as a blues album, but as a hard edged hard bop album based on the blues form."

Pushing the blues

nadav haber | jerusalem Israel | 09/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What comes to my mind when listening to the great music here, is that it is an approach to the blues far different than the way Hank Mobely and his group approached it on Soul Station.
Mclean and his group are playing a whole album based on the 12 bar (or 16 bar) blues form, but they approach the blues from a whole different place. There is very little softness or gentleness here. The blues is attacked with full force by all participents, and the emotions projected are uncompromisingly rough.
Even the second track, which is at a slow tempo, is played double and triple time by Mclean and Hubbard.
I feel that the overall sound of the CD is very unique, and there are no relaxed, layed back moments that would ease the tension, as one might expect. This is why I would not recommend it as a blues album, but as a hard edged hard bop album based on the blues form."

Straight Ahead Jackie Mac in Mono

Tad Ulrich | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just for clarification, this review is based on the 2009 reissue of Bluesnik.



First off, this cd contains some great straight ahead blowing, particularly by the leader, the late great, Jackie McLean. The title track, Bluesnik features the best overall blowing of the session with passionate blowing from Jackie and I particularly like Kenny Drew's bright n' bouncy solo. Vastly underrated bassist Doug Watkins owns Drew's Blues with his pulsing walking bass lines setting the groove.



Unlike the previous 1987 release, Van Gelder elected to remaster this new one in mono just like he did with the recent reissue of the classic Soul Station by Hank Mobley. Why? Better ask him. Maybe it's 1950's nostalgia or something. I have the first 1987 issue, remastered by Ron McMaster in stereo and it sounds great. Ok, so we didn't get the extra photos n' fancy back then, but you can find them on the net if you Google Jackie.



Sound wise, for those who would care, it was Hubbard on the left channel, Jackie on the right and the rhythm section in the middle with the drums just slightly off to the right, the typical Van Gelder arrangement back then. I don't think you really miss anything sound wise with the new mono but good stereo just adds more interest and with all the nice sound systems nowadays, I feel cheated otherwise.



Whatever, this is a very nice and most welcome reissue from one of jazz's all time great alto saxophonists that belongs in any straight ahead bop collection."