| Bluesnik | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1962 [1] | |||
| Recorded | January 8, 1961 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ | |||
| Genre | Hard bop | |||
| Length | 40:52 | |||
| Label | Blue Note BLP 4067 | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Jackie McLean chronology | ||||
| ||||
Bluesnik is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label. [2] It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Pete La Roca.
The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars and stated: "Many critics-as well as jazz fans hold to the opinion that Bluesnik may be McLean's most accessible session for the label... this is a monster session effortlessly performed by a soloist at an early peak and a supporting cast of blazing sidemen." [3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz rates the album three and a half out of four stars and describes it as "Tough, unreconstructed modern blues that reveal considerable depths on subsequent hearings" and further states that the album is "An excellent record, that should be a high priority for anyone interested in McLean's music." [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [6] |
Pete "La Roca" Sims was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, he was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in Circle Records and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. Sims studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin bands. In the 1970s, during a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted "La Roca" into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. He told The New York Times in 1982 that he did so only out of necessity:
I can't deny that I once played under the name La Roca, but I have to insist that my name is Peter Sims with La Roca in brackets or in quotes. For 16 or 17 years, when I have not been playing the music, people have known me as Sims....When I was 14 or 15, I thought ["La Roca"] was clever; right now, it's an embarrassment. I thought that it would be something that people would probably remember - boy, was I ever right on that one! I can't make my conversion.
Vertigo is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1962 and 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980. The initial release contained only the five tracks from 1963, while the later 2000 limited CD edition, released as part of the "Connoisseur Series", added six tracks from a 1962 session originally marked for release as Jackie McLean Quintet, first issued in 1978 as part of a double LP entitled Hipnosis.
The Freedom Rider is an album by jazz drummer Art Blakey and his group the Jazz Messengers, recorded in 1961 and released in 1964 by Blue Note Records. Continuing Blakey's distinct brand of hard bop, this album features compositions from Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Blakey himself, and Kenny Dorham, a former Jazz Messenger. This was the final album by this particular edition of the Jazz Messengers, who had been together for 18 months, as Lee Morgan left after this album and was replaced by Freddie Hubbard.
Red Clay is an album recorded in 1970 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his first album on Creed Taylor's CTI label and marked a shift toward the soul-jazz fusion sounds that would dominate his recordings in the later part of the decade. It entered at number 20 on Billboard’s Top 20 Best Selling Jazz LPs, on June 20, 1970.
Blue Spirits is an album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released on the Blue Note label. It would be his last studio album for Blue Note, recorded in the 1960s. It features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Joe Henderson, Harold Mabern, Jr., Larry Ridley, Clifford Jarvis, Big Black, Kiane Zawadi, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Pete LaRoca. The CD release added tracks from a 1966 session featuring Hosea Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones.
Sugar is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, his first recorded for the CTI Records label following his long association with Blue Note, featuring performances by Turrentine with Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Ron Carter, and Billy Kaye with Lonnie Liston Smith added on the title track and Butch Cornell and Richard "Pablo" Landrum on the other two tracks on the original release. The CD rerelease added a live version of the title track recorded at the Hollywood Palladium in 1971.
Fuego is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label in 1960 as BLP 4026, featuring Byrd with Jackie McLean, Duke Pearson, Doug Watkins and Lex Humphries.
Back to the Tracks is a hard bop album by tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks recorded in 1960 and released posthumously. The album was originally intended as BLP 4052, but, for some reason, it was shelved at the time. A song recorded during the session, "David the King", was rejected since it "never made it to releasable quality". The composition was later re-recorded for Brooks' final Blue Note session, eventually released as The Waiting Game. The tracks first appeared in a Mosaic 12" LP box-set (MR4-106) entitled The Complete Blue Note Recordings of The Tina Brooks Quintets. A Blue Note CD appeared in 1998, then reissued in 2006.
New Soil is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean's quintet with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Walter Davis Jr., bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Pete La Roca.
Bossa Nova Bacchanal is an album by American saxophonist Charlie Rouse recorded in 1962 and released in 1963 on the Blue Note label. It was the only album Rouse recorded as a leader for Blue Note. The CD reissue includes a bonus track recorded in 1965.
One Flight Up is an album by American jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon recorded in 1964 in Paris and released on the Blue Note label., featuring Donald Byrd on trumpet, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and drummer Art Taylor.
Contours is the second album by American saxophonist Sam Rivers recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label. The CD reissue contains an alternate take as a bonus track.
Booker 'n' Brass is an album by American jazz saxophonist Booker Ervin featuring performances recorded in 1967 for the Pacific Jazz label.
Lights Out! is a studio album by saxophonist Jackie McLean, his debut on Prestige Records. It was recorded in 1956 and released the same year as PRLP 7035. The album was reissued on CD in 1990. It was re-issued on 180 gram vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2012. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Elmo Hope, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Art Taylor.
4, 5 and 6 is a studio album by saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded for Prestige Records. It was recorded in 1956 and originally released that year as PRLP 7048. In 1962, the album was reissued under the same title on the Prestige sub-label New Jazz Records as NJ 8279 with a different cover. The album was reissued on CD in 1991. It features McLean in a quartet with pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Art Taylor. Trumpeter Donald Byrd guests on three tracks, and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley on one.
Jackie McLean & Co. is a studio album by saxophonist Jackie McLean. It was recorded and released in 1957 on Prestige. It was also reissued on New Jazz Records as NJ 8323. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Bill Hardman, pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Art Taylor. Tuba player Ray Draper appears on three tracks.
2 Trumpets is an album by trumpeters Art Farmer and Donald Byrd, recorded in 1956 and released on the Prestige label. They are joined by Jackie McLean in the front line for the uptempo pieces but have a ballad quartet track apiece.
Live at Montmartre is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in 1972 and released on the SteepleChase label.
The Meeting is a live album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean featuring Dexter Gordon recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in 1973 and released on the SteepleChase label.
Presenting... Jackie McLean, also referred to as The New Tradition and Jackie McLean Quintet, is the debut album by American alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, which was recorded in 1955, becoming the first LP released by the Ad Lib label before being reissued on the Jubilee label in 1958. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Ron Tucker.
