A Fickle Sonance Tracks
1. Five Will Get You Ten
2. Subdued
3. Sundu
4. Fickle Sonance
5. Enitnerrut
6. Lost
A Fickle Sonance Review
There's a quality in Jackie McLean's Blue Note recordings of the early 1960s, a mix of the hip (the rhythmic swagger, the confident aggression) and the searching, an exploratory fervor and questioning that subtly undermines all assurances, resulting in a distinct and genuine art. It's akin to similar elements in his great contemporaries, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, but it's definitely McLean's own. In 1961, he was absorbing modal forms into his music and they melded with his blues-based intensity, adding structural coherence to his solos. He's joined here by an excellent band, though two of his key partners are woefully underrated. Trumpeter Tommy Turrentine is a brassy player of the Clifford Brown school, who's capable of genuine warmth at slower tempos. Pianist Sonny Clark, a frequent McLean partner, possessed tremendous linear invention and bluesy depths that complement the saxophonist's own. He also contributes two compositions, "Sundu" and the title track. Drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Butch Warren, both Blue Note regulars, complete the group. --Stuart Broomer
