Jackie McLean Quintet - Hipnosis (1978 Japanese Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Jackie McLean Quintet - Hipnosis | Vinyl LP - 1978 Japanese King Record Limited Edition (GXF 3022, Blue Note "Unissued Masters" Series)

• Previously unissued Blue Note session from 1967, shelved for eleven years, featuring McLean's working quintet with Grachan Moncur III on trombone, LaMont Johnson on piano, Scotty Holt on bass and Billy Higgins on drums
• All compositions by members of the quintet, including Moncur's eleven-minute title track and two McLean originals, with the New Thing's influence running through hard bop structures
• Japanese-only single LP release, limited edition on King Record, manufactured for the Blue Note "Unissued Masters" Series with liner notes by Ben Sidran

Jackie McLean and Grachan Moncur III had already pushed each other into new territory on Moncur's Evolution and McLean's One Step Beyond and Destination... Out! in 1963. By February 1967, both musicians had absorbed the New Thing's vocabulary without abandoning their hard bop foundations, and this session catches them at that precise intersection. "Hipnosis", Moncur's composition, opens the album and runs over eleven minutes, Moncur's trombone entering with a buffeting, angular line that Jazzwise described as hinting at the influence of the avant-garde without leaving the blues behind. McLean's alto tears into the changes with the razor-sharp urgency that defined his playing throughout the decade, and the interplay between the two horns is the record's strongest feature. LaMont Johnson's comping sits between traditional hard bop voicings and something more open, and Billy Higgins holds the rhythmic centre with a flexibility that accommodates both approaches. "Slow Poke", McLean's own composition, follows with a cooler, more deliberate groove where Scotty Holt's bass is more prominent in the mix.

Side B carries three tracks. "The Breakout", another McLean original, is the most direct hard bop piece on the date, the tempo brisk and the solos focused. "Back Home", Moncur's second composition, shifts into darker harmonic territory, and "The Reason Why", LaMont Johnson's sole writing contribution, closes the album with what Jazzwise called "the headlong rush of razor sharp hard bop". It is difficult to understand why Alfred Lion shelved this session. The five tracks that make up this Japanese release are a complete and cohesive album from a working quintet at peak form. The US release (BN-LA 483-H2) later combined this material with a different 1962 McLean session featuring Kenny Dorham and Sonny Clark on a two-LP set. This Japanese pressing on King Record (GXF 3022) presents the 1967 quintet session as a standalone album, which is the better way to hear it. Limited edition, part of the Blue Note "Unissued Masters" Series. Liner notes by Ben Sidran, cover design by Fujiyama.