| New Soil | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1959 [1] | |||
| Recorded | May 2, 1959 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio Hackensack, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 38:31 (LP) 44:47 (CD) | |||
| Label | Blue Note BLP 4013 | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Jackie McLean chronology | ||||
| ||||
New Soil is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded on May 2, 1959 and released on Blue Note later that year. [2] McLean's quintet features trumpeter Donald Byrd and rhythm section Walter Davis Jr., Paul Chambers and Pete La Roca.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
| Tom Hull | A [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [6] |
The AllMusic review by Steve Huey states, "New Soil wasn't the first session Jackie McLean recorded for Blue Note, but it was the first one released, and as the title suggests, the first glimmerings of McLean's desire to push beyond the limits of bop are already apparent... It could be argued that McLean never recorded a bad album for Blue Note, and New Soil got his career with the label off to a terrifically stimulating start." [3]
All compositions by Walter Davis Jr., except as noted.
Walter Davis Jr. was an American bebop and hard bop pianist.
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.
Douglas Watkins was an American jazz double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean.
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.
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/Sextet, also known as Quintet/Sextet is a studio album by trumpeter Miles Davis and vibraphonist Milt Jackson released by Prestige Records in August of 1956. It was recorded on August 5, 1955. Credited to "Miles Davis and Milt Jackson", this was an "all-star" session, and did not feature any of the members of Davis's working group of that time. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean appears on his own compositions “Dr. Jackle” and “Minor Apprehension”.
Let Freedom Ring is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean, recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quartet with pianist Walter Davis Jr., bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Billy Higgins.
Byrd in Hand is an album by Donald Byrd. Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, it was recorded in May 1959 and was released in 1959 as catalogue BLP 4019 (mono) and BST 84019 (stereo). It was remastered in 2002 and released on CD as Blue Note 42305.
Leeway is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 28, 1960 and features performances by Morgan with Jackie McLean, Bobby Timmons, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey.
Sonny Clark Quintets is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label, featuring performances by Clark with two different studio quintets. The first session, from late 1957, featured Clifford Jordan, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, and Pete LaRoca, and produced three tracks. The LP's remaining two tracks were recorded a few weeks later with group including Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The three pieces recorded with Burrell and Jordan were originally scheduled to be released on album given the catalog number "BLP 1592". Blue Note decided not to complete the album begun with Jordan and Burrell, and the tracks remained unreleased during Clark's lifetime. In 1976, Blue Note combined these three tracks with two outtakes recorded in early 1958 as part of the session for the Cool Struttin' LP. The resulting LP was released in Japan as Sonny Clark Quintets. The same five pieces were subsequently re-released on a 1983 Japanese LP titled Cool Struttin' Volume 2. Sonny Clark Quintets has been reissued numerous times on compact disc.
My Conception is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It was originally released in 1979 in Japan, as GXF 3056, featuring six tracks recorded in 1959 including an alternate take of "Royal Flush", a track that had appeared on the album Cool Struttin'. The 2000 limited CD reissue also comprised the three additional tracks originally recorded for Sonny Clark Quintets, an album which never saw the light of the day until being released later only in Japan.
Off to the Races is an album by American jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded on December 21, 1958 and released on Blue Note the following year.
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.
Davis Cup is the debut album by American pianist Walter Davis Jr. featuring performances recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label in 1960. It was his only album for the label and one of the few recordings where he figured as the leader.
Bluesnik is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Pete La Roca.
Capuchin Swing is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quintet featuring trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor. McLean and Mitchell do not play on “Don’t Blame Me”.
Swing, Swang, Swingin' is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quartet with pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Art Taylor.
Jackie's Bag is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1959 and 1960 and released by Blue Note. It features three tracks with McLean in a quintet featuring trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, and six tracks with a sextet featuring tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor.
Evolution is the debut album led by the American trombonist Grachan Moncur III, recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label. Featuring alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, trumpeter Lee Morgan, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Tony Williams, Evolution is considered a significant contribution to the jazz avant-garde. Two McLean albums also recorded for Blue Note in 1963 featured Moncur and his compositions, and explored the same "inside/outside" musical approach.
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.
