Jackie McLean's Monuments

[Daniel A]

Actually I didn't find the tracks posted above to be so bad and I would even buy this album if I found it for a couple of Euros. Jackie's own playing and saxophone sound is enough for me.

I note that he's playing in tune and wonder if that might be the producer's idea.

[Rabshakeh]

Why no bop revival for Mr. McLean?

(* Disclaimer: I may be overstating the extent to which there really was a sales uptick and/or the market was actually juiced for a McLean comeback. Perhaps Monuments looked like it might sell, or help him reconnect with the "kids". Maybe he was just really into slick lifeless disco or it was a comedy bit, or something. I'd take all that if it was Ayler or Harris, but harder to believe it with McLean).

Edited September 18, 2021 by Rabshakeh

[jlhoots]

21 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

On Friday the week before last, I spotted a copy of Jackie McLean's universally beloved masterpiece Monuments in a market, which I recognised at once by its beautiful cover art and cheap cheap price. That prompted me to give it a listen on YouTube this evening. 

It was my first listen; never say never, but it might be my last listen too. So it goes.

What's weird about that album is that it was recorded in 1979, at a time when the bop revival was in full swing, and Dexter and VSOP were blitzing eager crowds who were thirsting for quality jazz*.

So, in the spirit of the recent Stitt v Gordon thread, why on earth was Jackie McClean recording a horrific throwaway album of lightweight disco drek at a time when he had barely recorded for a few years and the market was panting* for some real bebop craftsmanship of the sort that McLean was supremely well adapted to, and, by the mid-80s, would, supply? Why no bop revival for Mr. McLean?

(* Disclaimer: I may be overstating the extent to which there really was a sales uptick and/or the market was actually juiced for a McLean comeback. Perhaps Monuments looked like it might sell, or help him reconnect with the "kids". Maybe he was just really into slick lifeless disco or it was a comedy bit, or something. I'd take all that if it was Ayler or Harris, but harder to believe it with McLean).

I don't know. ? Big label opportunity. 

[JSngry]

He's said that it was something he wanted to try.

You can say that about any number of other things that don't go well.

There is one cut I kind of like, though, the one where he talks about people he's known.

Otherwise, though...road to haell, etc.

[danasgoodstuff]

Jackie McLean was a tremendous groove player, if allowed to do that on his own terms:

Jackie McLean - Hipnosis - YouTube

or the this alt. take of Right Now!

Right Now (Alternate Take) - YouTube

[Rabshakeh]

I think I smothered my own question in the rather flippant post above (which I have since also accidentally edited out of recognition), but does anyone have any idea why Jackie McLean did not take part in the late 70s / early 80s bop revival?

On the face of it, he would seem to have been an ideal candidate, given that he was one of the most prominent bop and hard bop musicians and was actually there from bop ground zero through the whole development of the NY scene. Instead, McLean makes a weird disco record then stops recording for half a decade.

[sidewinder]

He was certainly touring here with a hard bop quartet in the late 70s, early 80s. He appeared at the Shaw Theatre as part of the old Camden Jazz Fest.

[Rabshakeh]

Perhaps I should have said "Did not play a prominent part", a la Dexter Gordon and Joe Henderson.

This is a similar question to that raised in the recent Sonny Stitt thread, I guess, but it seems even more difficult to explain why McLean missed out. 

[sidewinder]

Well, he was probably heavily concentrating on his teaching work at Hartford and to be honest, McLean’s sharp tone isn’t easy listening. It was only in the late 80s when his releases started to get a bit more prominence. McLean was always a bit of an ‘underground’ player.