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It is just such a democratic unit, a jazz unit, if it is done right. Each one has a voice. There is a central theme and you make a whole. It is such a sharing thing. It is such a community. Can you imagine if the whole world was run on these principles? It is a dangerous philosophy in a way.
- Sathima Bea Benjamin |
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 Thursday, 08 January 2009 |
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Concert Tribute to Jackie McLean features his son, René |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Thursday, 13 April 2006 |
 Jackie McLean
In the mid-50s Jackie McLean was acclaimed as an heir to the legacy
left by the great alto sax genius Charlie Parker. The Harlem native
grew up in a musical family and performed with his friend Sonny Rollins
from 1948-49 in a Harlem neighborhood band under the tutelage of
pianist Bud Powell; through Powell, McLean met bebop pioneer Charlie
"Bird" Parker.
His first recording came at the age of 19 on Miles Davis' Dig
album, which featured Rollins, and heralded the start of the hard-bop
style. In the 1950s, McLean also played with Charles Mingus and Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers, experiences that helped him find his own
style.
McLean made his first recording as a leader in 1955, and drew wide
attention with his 1959 debut on Blue Note Records, Jackie's Bag,
one of dozens of albums he recorded in the hard-bop and free jazz
styles for the label over and eight year period. On his 1962 album Let
Freedom Ring he performed with avant-garde musicians.
McLean began teaching at the University of Hartford in 1968, providing
instruction in jazz, African-American music, and African-American
history and culture. The university's African American Music Department
was later was named in his honor.
He took a break from recording for much of the 1980s to focus on his
work as a music educator, but made his recording comeback in 1988 with Dynasty,
and later re-signed with Blue Note. His last Blue Note recordings
included Fire and Love (1998), featuring his youthful Macband
with son René McLean on tenor saxophone, and the ballads album Nature
Boy (2000).
René McLean studied alto with his father and Sonny
Rollins from
the age of nine. He played baritone and later alto with Tito Puente for
three years in the early '70s and also worked with Sam Rivers, Lionel
Hampton, and with his father in the Cosmic Brotherhood. McLean played
in the mid-'70s in a quintet with Woody Shaw and Louis Hayes, started
touring with Hugh Masekela in 1978, settled in South Africa in 1985,
led his own group, and in the late '80s through the ‘90s, recorded with
his father. René McLean has also led his own albums for the
SteepleChase (1975) and Triloka (1993) labels.
Fronting a quartet, René will play flute as well as soprano,
alto, and
tenor saxophones along with Alan J. Palmer (piano), Deron Douglass
(bass), and Emanuelle Harold (drums) at the Rubin Museum of Art on
April 21, 2006.
René McLean’s performance replaces the originally scheduled
performance
for April 21st by Gene Bertoncini, who will now appear on June 9, 2006.
The all-acoustic jazz combo concerts are held Friday nights at 7 p.m.
and are part of RMA’s new K2 Lounge in which a bar, DJ,
contemporary
artist tours and six floors of Himalayan art are all part of the
experience. Happy Hour is offered from 6-7 p.m. in the K2 Lounge.
Movies from the Fakir & Faker film series follow the concerts at
9:30 p.m. and are free with a $7 bar minimum.
The jazz concerts are curated by Executive Director of the Jazz Museum
in Harlem, Loren Schoenberg and present a range of jazz interpreters –
last Friday, senior saxophone colossus and jazz flute pioneer Frank
Wess played with grit and grace in a quartet.
Each week the artists play off of RMA’s current exhibition “Holy
Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas.”
Rubin Museum of Art 150
West 17th Street (corner of 7th
Ave.) www.rmanyc.org
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 day of the performance, and include
admission to the Museum’s galleries. Tickets can be purchased in
advance by calling 212.620.5000 ext. 344.
RMA is dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and opened sixteen months
ago; the Jazz Museum is four years into its community and educational
programs, and is in the process of acquiring a permanent home in
Harlem. Their very successful HARLEM SPEAKS
www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/harlemspeaks.html
series is held bi-weekly in their Harlem offices.
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