Let Freedom Ring [Original recording remastered]

Jackie McLean | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 2, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B0000BV20X
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,050 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let Freedom Ring, March 1, 2005

By 

Tom B. (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Freedom Ring (Audio CD)

Being that I'm a huge fan of Jackie McLean's straight-ahead hard bop sessions, I didn't think I would like this session when I picked it up. After popping this disc into my cd player when I got home, I could tell from the first few seconds of "Melody for Melonae" that I couldn't have been more wrong. This is definitely one of McLean's best, which says a lot since his discography is so vast. After hearing this session, you will probably wonder why the quartet on the four tracks (McLean, Walter Davis, Jr. on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums) did not become a working group because they work so well together! All four tracks on this masterpiece are gems and there's not one I favor over the others. They are all different and good in their own way. Three of the four tunes ("Melody for Melonae", "Rene", and "Omega") are originals written by Jackie. Interestingly enough, those three tunes are all written about members of McLean's family ("Melody for Melonae" is about his daughter, "Rene" is about his son, and "Omega is about his mother. That can probably explain why his playing seems to be filled with such emotion during the duration of these tracks. "I'll Keep Loving You", the other track on this cd, is a rarely-done Bud Powell ballad. All of those people who consider McLean to be too rough of an alto player will change their minds immediately after hearing the coda on this track. His playing is so tender that it kills me every time I hear it! All four of the members of this ensemble are highlighted throughout, but this is definitely McLean's show and is one of the most personal albums he ever produced. So if you're a McLean fan, a fan of Coltrane, Shorter, or Coleman, or just dig jazz with feeling, then order this gem immediately!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jackie's best?, January 5, 2004

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Let Freedom Ring (Audio CD)

This album represents Jackie McLean's attempt to assimilate the "new thing" into his music. It's not a free jazz album by any means but it does escape the constricting confines of changes-based bop playing for a more pared-down kind of playing. It's basically a very personal hybrid of modal jazz & the more intuitive, directly emotional playing of Ornette Coleman. The compositions are all connected to people in McLean's life: "Melody for Melonae" & "Rene" concern his children, "Omega" is the middle name of his mother, & "I'll Keep Loving You" is a ballad by Bud Powell, whom McLean had worked with & who was in the middle of his final decline which led to his death a few years later. McLean's tone & playing have never been better caught on tape: the enormous biting sound with its idiosyncratic pitching, the hard-swinging, buttonholing solo lines, occasionally decorated with freak whistle notes; the ability to sustain extremely long solos without a falling-off of invention or power; the extraordinary out-of-tempo setpieces. Indeed, the completely out-of-tempo "I'll Keep Loving You" actually anticipates the kind of force Albert Ayler would put into a ballad, years before Ayler cut his first ESP disc. The other three tracks are (once the heads are stated) uptempo & mostly upbeat in feel, with "Rene" a particularly joyous performance.

The other reason to get this disc is the late Billy Higgins--this is possibly the best performance of his I've heard on disc, & perhaps not even on the classic Ornette Coleman sides does he play as well as this. -- Herbie Lewis is very good on bass, not a player I've encountered elsewhere. Walter Davis is usually thought of as a mainstream bop pianist of the 2nd rank; he plays very well here, though is perhaps slightly superfluous. (McLean even in his most adventurous mode usually liked to keep the piano, which gives his music a more grounded feel than Coleman's had, or Coltrane's for that matter [Tyner usually comped only minimally or laid out during Coltrane's extended solos].)

A marvellous album, which belongs in any serious collection of postwar jazz.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of my favorite Mclean cd's, January 29, 2004

By 

nadav haber (jerusalem Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Let Freedom Ring (Audio CD)

Trying to pigeonhole this music is not an easy task, and maybe it is not necessary. Mclean grew up listening to Parker, and always retains some bebop in his playing. But, later influences, of Mingus and then Ornette Coleman, have encouraged him to find his own style. So he ventured on new territories and made some good music in the process.
This is not free jazz, because rhythmically Mclean is closer to bebop and hard bop, and because of Walter Davis' presence on the piano. What this music IS, is very expressive, original, and rich. Mclean is not a genious improvisor on the level of Coleman, Dolphy or Parker. But he has a lot to say, and a very attracrive way of saying it.
The four tracks are all interesting, and I especially like the first and the last. Sometimes it is obvious that Mclean goes into the high pitched shrieks involuntarily, as a result of his powerful blowing, but chooses to stay with them and add them as legitimate sounds.
It is interesting to note that the name of the cd is taken from the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King, which was made a full year after the music was recorded. Since it is unlikely that King borrowed from Mclean, I suppose the album was named and released a long while after it was recorded.