Jackie McLean - Jacknife

I've noticed that I posted only one Jackie McLean album on here. This is weird. I love how this dude plays, I should post more so here's one of my top favorite albums by him. Now this album has a convoluted release history that I won't get much into but suffice it to say this was supposed to be a double album and the version I'm posting is the re-release of the first part (or album) on CD from 2002. You can read the details on Wikipedia.

By this time (1965) McLean was leaving his established hard bop sound and was exploring some new grounds. It was an interesting period for jazz with a lot of musicians doing different things and McLean was no different from his peers. What he tried to do was incorporate a more loose or free jazz with hard bop roots. So basically there still are tangible choruses, melodies and themes but the solos are more loos, adventurous and more dissonant. The star of the show on this album for me is definitely Jack DeJohnette (drummer) who absolutely rips shit up on each track. His talent really shines here so no wonder Miles Davis picked him up a few years later. But anyway, all players here are great aside from Lee Morgan who appears on a few tracks. I don't know, I feel like he does not fit into this kind of group. Perhaps it's just me but his solos seem out of place. Aside from that little complaint this albums is excellent.

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Battlefield Band - The Road of Tears

It has been a long time since I last made a post and it's raining heavily outside so I've decided to share something sad (but not really) and rainy.

Battlefield Band is one of those bands that is now less of a band and more of an institution. They formed way back in 1969 and they released a lot of albums but changed even more members. I haven't heard much of their stuff but what I did I liked it so I presume most of their discography is good if not excellent. This particular album is from more modern times and the music itself is a mixture of traditional music from Scotland and "modern instrumentation". So basically they're kinda like the Old Crow Medicine Show of Scotland on here.

This album packs a lot of songs so it clocks for about an hour. While the overall tone is somewhat sad there are plenty of merry instrumentals which are probably the best part of this album. Aside from the instrumentals there are a few traditional folk songs (Scottish and Irish) so there's a bit of everything in here.

In any case, it's a smooth listen if you're into it.

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