Jackie McLean – Action Action Action LP (180g) Online now

Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean s 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.