Right Now! [Bonus Track]

Review

Recorded two years after his 1963 creative breakthrough on Destination Out!, Right Now is the full articulation of Jackie McLean's new integrational language of hard bop and outside improvisational music. Deeply influenced by Ornette Coleman's experiments in melody and extrapolated harmony (McLean would record on New and Old Gospel with Coleman in 1967), Right Now features a tight yet expansive meld of the inside and outside traditions as mirror images of one another. More than any other player of the era, McLean would show that the two aspects of the music were not only not incompatible with one another, but that they were indeed complimentary, and that one did not have to give up swing or the blues to take jazz to the margin, and over it. Accompanied by bassist Bob Cranshaw, drummer Clifford Jarvis, and pianist Larry Willis, McLean's "Eco," and Charles Tolliver's "Right Now" are terrific examples of the breadth and deep scope of McLean's advanced harmonic and rhythmic thinking, setting the music all but free of both in the process. Perhaps as a way of showcasing how rooted he was in the jazz tradition, Willis' "Poor Eric" is, in this set, a gorgeous ballad dedicated to the memory of the late Eric Dolphy. The 2004 remastered Rudy Van Gelder edition includes a longer alternate take of the title cut that has McLean blowing further out than on the one originally included. In all a brilliant album that is also included -- with the bonus material -- on the Mosaic box set of McLean's Blue Note sessions from 1962-1966. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Track Listing

Details of This Recording