Customer Reviews

Vertigo

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is thoroughly enjoyable from begining to end. My usual complaint from multisession reissues isn't present as the album flows pretty smoothly from the first to the second session. Additionally the opening track has some of the most interesting and entertaining duo horn work on any bop or post bop album I've heard. Although Jackie has better albums, notably A Fickle Sonance, Destination Out, and Let Freedom ring, this is still both a good starting point and good addition to your library.

With so many previously unavailable Blue Note classics having been reissued on CD in the last few years, I was beginning to think there weren't any "finds" left. And then came Vertigo.... This '63 session with Hancock and Williams sets the tone for his later classics Destination Out and One Step Beyond. Vertigo has that unmistakeable Blue Note 60s sound -- not too avant-garde yet challenging, exploratory and thoroughly rewarding. The bonus '62 session finds McLean tackling more typical post-bop material, yet it could easily be a stand alone release (I found it better than Swing Swang Swingin and Tippin the Scales). Sometimes McLean can sound a bit out of tune, but he's fine here. Two of the tracks from the '62 set appear later, and under different titles, on the Mosaic box set. In all, well worth getting, and with so many McLean Blue Notes going out of print, get it while you can.

With so many previously unavailable classic Blue Note albums having been made available on CD in recent years, I was beginning to wonder if there were any more "finds" out there. And then came Vertigo...! This '63 session is similar in feel to Jackie's classics Destination Out and One Step Beyond. Hancock and Williams help to give the album that exploratory yet not too avant-garde feel that is so recognizable and enjoyable from mid-60s Blue Notes. The bonus '62 session is good enough to be a stand alone album. On some of the Jackie sessions that originally sat in the Blue Note vaults (Tippin the Scales comes to mind), Jackie's tone can be harsh, even a little out of tune. That is not a problem with this bonus set -- the front line sound with Kenny Dorham is excellent. Of special interest to me on the bonus session was early versions of two tunes that show up on later albums of Jackie's (compiled on the now out of print Mosaic box set) with different song titles. With so many of Jackie's best albums now unavailable again, any fan of McLean's music should get this CD quickly.

Two separate quintet sessions from the early 60's are represented here, both shelved at the time by Blue Note, both important documents that jazz musicologists are delighted to have on CD today. This review restricts itself to the main session from which the album title is derived, featuring the top-notch personnel as noted in the editorial review above, and it discusses each track in sequence:

1. "Marney", by trumpeter Donald Byrd, is a tight chase that sprints right out of the gates. McLean's tone throughout is extra tart - not for the squeamish. And the rhythm section of Hancock, Warren and Williams is absolutely incendiary, throwing off white-hot sparks at every turn.

2. "Dusty Foot", also by Byrd, is a funky blues in 12 (actually 6 + 4 + 2) that rolls itself out a bit like a chunky version of Horace Silver's tune "The Jody Grind" (from three years later; both tunes in Bb). It also bears a somewhat eerie resemblance to Wayne Shorter's "Adam's Apple" (also from three years later; different key) - not so much the head, but more the thing that Herbie's doing underneath to set up the groove.

3. "Vertigo" - The title track is a strange circus gambit, and not a chordless one as others have suggested, but certainly an extended form that reveals McLean's history with and indebtedness to Charles Mingus, while pointing the way forward to near-future McLean albums like Destination Out! and One Step Beyond.

4. "Cheers" is a modern show-type tune (you'll swear it's a standard) that McLean seems to have based upon "The Woody Woodpecker Song" as much as on anything else. Check it out. It's a fine blowing vehicle for the principals.

5. "Yams" is a 12-bar blues, plain and simple. Nothing special in this tune credited to Hancock, though it could be called remarkable for the way that McLean dials back his usual sharp tartness and plays it right in the pocket.

The "Vertigo" session tracks (which marked the recording debut of the late Tony Williams, then just 17, on astonishing drums) were recorded in February 1963, but were held back for vinyl release by Blue Note until 1981 (tip of the hat to a young Michael Cuscuna). Like many others, I scrambled to get this "Limited Edition" CD release when it arrived in 2000, and I've never regretted it. Seven years later, it's sad to have lost such a giant of American Music (McLean died March 31, 2006 in Hartford, CT at the age of 74), but it's nice to see that this fine document is still available to everyone.

(btw, the other half of this release is taken from a June 1962 5tet session that was previously available only as part of the double LP set "Hipnosis", and it features some guys named Kenny Dorham, Sonny Clark, and Billy Higgins - not too bad in and of itself!)

Here is a maxim about Jackie McLean. If buying one album, buy 1963s Destination Out!. If collecting more, get this one last.

Why? Well, I got that chamber avant classic in 2002 and have found every other McClean album a let down on first listen: eight years and I am still digging out of this hole.

It is never that any of this master's 1960s Blue Note albums ever sink below excellence. Vertigo is case and point: out of all the period's output, this is the straightest: soaked in the blues with some complex changes and some interesting timing shifts. It is certainly not the chamber avant of Destination Out! or the modal workout of Action

But it is some of the best in the Blue Note Cannon, and who am I to pigeonhole McLean to one amazing classic, even if Detination Out! does happen to be one of the best jazz albums made

Surprising in that I didn't know the record even existed. And it is a two-session in one cd bargain. The 1962 session is fine indeed, but the 1963 session is in the vein of all the others from this great period, like Let Freedom Ring! and Destination Out. Awesome stuff (again), from the incredibly consistent and excellent Jackie McLean. Don't let this one go out of print before you can pick it up.

My 1st McLean recording-what a bunch of tunes. This has been in heavy rotation since my purchase.