Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring (Blue Note Tone Poet)

180-gram LP

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tape

Plated and pressed at RTI

Deluxe tip-on jacket

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

Jackie McLean’s 1962 album Let Freedom Ring reflected the change in the air of the early ‘60s: both the musical freedoms being explored by the emergent avant-garde movement and the social freedoms sought by the ascendent civil rights movement.

This four-song set featuring the alto saxophonist with Walter Davis Jr. on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums melds the bluesy language of hard bop with the bristling energy of The New Thing. McLean’s emotive horn wails, shrieks, and soothes as the quartet moves through three striking McLean originals: “Melody For Melonae” (dedicated to his daughter), “Rene” (dedicated to his son), and “Omega” (dedicated to his mother). A plaintive rendition of the Bud Powell ballad “I’ll Keep Loving You” rounds out the date.

Format : Vinyl Record

1 Lp