September 2025
Blue Note Records BST 84223, 602455845917
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
A remarkable number of titles in the catalog of Blue Note Records were released well after their recording dates. In some cases, the delay was only a few years, but in others, the tapes sat in the vault for much longer. Saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded Jacknife in September 1965, but the album first appeared on vinyl in 1975. That release included a second LP of tunes recorded at another previously unreleased session from April 1966.
Blue Note reissued Jacknife on CD in 2002, as part of its Connoisseur series. The CD included only the 1965 recording. The music from that session has now returned to vinyl as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet series, produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray. McLean is accompanied on the session by trumpeters Lee Morgan and Charles Tolliver, drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Larry Ridley, and pianist Larry Willis.
I have the 2002 CD release of Jacknife, which was mastered by Ron McMaster. I compared it to this Tone Poet reissue. McMaster takes hits on some audiophile forums for his mastering on both CD and vinyl, but I don’t think they’re justified. I often find that his work doesn’t call attention to itself, which I think is a mastering engineer’s job. I did note, however, that the CD is cut at a higher volume than the new LP. I did my comparisons by pulling the CD volume down so it matched the level of the LP.
Tolliver and Morgan each play individually on two tunes, and together on one, “Soft Blue.” The opening track is a Tolliver composition, “On the Nile.” His trumpet announces the song and is quickly joined by the rest of the quintet. The CD leaned more into the highs than the LP did, but not too emphatically. When the intro gives way to the main theme, DeJohnette’s cross-sticking rang out more sharply and his cymbal splashes had more fire.
I found, however, that the LP had a deeper soundstage on my system, which let each instrument register better. McLean’s sax was easier to hear in the ensemble sections, and Willis’s piano resonated more openly. Tolliver’s trumpet was rounder-toned on the LP, and Willis’s piano chords were harmonically fuller. McLean’s solo, very much a tribute to Coltrane, was separated better from the other instruments and sounded less aggressive. Tolliver’s solo also sounded more natural, and Willis’s benefited from having enough room to breathe. The CD sounded just a little crowded by comparison.
“Climax,” a DeJohnette composition, features Morgan on trumpet. DeJohnette’s rapid cymbal and snare work is shadowed by Willis’s chording and Ridley’s bass, both also at a quick pace. The CD presented the excitement of the music well, but I heard the subtleties of DeJohnette’s drum work better on the LP. McLean’s sax solo was less edgy and sounded more natural on the LP. Morgan’s trumpet had more space, which allowed notes to sustain and then decay in a more satisfying way.
“Soft Blue” is a Lee Morgan tune and, as I noted earlier, he and Tolliver appear together on the track. On the rest of the album, McLean is in the right channel. Rudy Van Gelder, the original recording engineer, moved McLean into the left channel with Morgan for “Soft Blue,” and gave the right channel to Tolliver. The rest of the group is arrayed behind the other players.
Placing the trumpeters in opposing channels let me appreciate their contrasting styles. Morgan’s strongly stated, blues-based lines unfolded somewhat more easily on the LP, and Tolliver’s more probing and experimental playing was warmer and more cogent. All three horns sounded more focused on the vinyl, and McLean and Morgan were better separated in the left channel. The reverb echo of each horn in the opposite channel was also more audible on the LP, adding some fullness and realism to the sound.
Tolliver wrote the title track, an energetic workout that gives all the players a chance to demonstrate their chops. McLean is inventive and unflappable throughout this complicated, fast-paced tune, and Tolliver plays with tremendous fire and intensity. His two compositions are high points on Jacknife; reminders that his music deserves wider renown. Morgan returns on McLean’s “Blue Fable,” which closes the album in a more familiar hard-bop vein, but the tune and playing are fresh and impassioned.
On those tunes and throughout the album, Gray’s mastering has allowed small details to come through more solidly than they did on the CD. DeJohnette’s kick-drum accents and subtle cymbal work were presented clearly on the LP, and the attack on Ridley’s bass lines was more pronounced. Horn solos unfolded more warmly. McMaster’s work on the earlier CD is very good, but Gray’s deeper soundstage opens up the music.
Jacknife was pressed at Record Technology, Inc. My copy was flat and well centered, and playback had a quiet background. The heavy cardboard packaging and tipped-on cover art were up to the usual Tone Poet standards. Blue Note created new cover art for the album but retained Ira Gitler’s excellent liner notes from the 1975 release. The gatefold includes photos from the session.
Jacknife offers a good balance of compositions that present the players to good advantage. Tolliver’s tunes carry a hint of an edge without fully veering into the avant-garde, and the remaining tracks fit into Blue Note’s hard-bop template while still sounding vital. One of my favorite things about the Tone Poet series is that Joe Harley chooses lesser-known Blue Note and Pacific Jazz titles that deserve to be heard in the stellar sound the reissue series offers. Add Jacknife to that list.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
