Jackie McLean is a Professor of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, but he is still a world-class player who tours annually in Europe and Japan. This album, representing two different bands from two separate 1957 sessions, was done a few years before Jackie appeared as both actor and player in The Connection, but “A Long Drink of the Blues,” in two takes, has both dialogue (spontaneous) and blowing by McLean (on tenor sax as well as his more familiar alto), trombonist Curtis Fuller, and two legendary figures, trumpeter Webster Young and Brooklyn pianist Gil Coggins. The rest of the date, in contrast, finds Jackie (solely on alto) with pianist Mal Waldron, exploring three standard ballads in a highly subjective manner.

with Curtis Fuller, Webster Young, Gil Coggins, Paul Chambers, Louis Hayes, Mal Waldron, Arthur Phipps, Arthur Taylor