Alto Saxophone | 1931-2006

Jackie McLean developed one of jazz's most recognisable alto sounds: raw, urgent, and slightly sharp in pitch, creating a distinctive edge that set him apart from other Charlie Parker disciples. Growing up in Harlem with Monk, Powell, and Parker as neighbours, he recorded 21 albums for Blue Note from 1959 to 1967, bridging hard bop and free jazz with visceral intensity.

Albums like Let Freedom Ring and Destination...Out! showcase his evolution from bebop roots into modal and avant-garde territories, whilst maintaining bluesy soul. In 1968, McLean founded the jazz programme at the University of Hartford (later renamed the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz), and in 1970 established the Artists Collective with his wife Dollie to teach Hartford's youth. NEA Jazz Master and DownBeat Hall of Fame inductee, his Blue Note catalogue remains essential to hard bop's legacy.