A 2001 audio interview with Jackie McLean.

bainer:

Jackie McLean - Climax (1965)

Certain solos are so ferocious they literally take your breath away. JMac’s solo on this tune is, in my humble opinion, one of his top five moments on record. You can really hear how much drummer Jack DeJohnette and the rhythm section—made up of Larry Willis and Larry Ridley—really drive him upward, outward and into the stratosphere on this cut. Sensational stuff.

bainer:

Jackie McLean - Wrong Handle (1964)

From Nat Hentoff’s original liner notes:

Wrong Handle is also by Tolliver. Originally it was written for a young lady. The relationship, however, didn’t work out, and so Tolliver changed the title from her name to the presently appropriate Wrong Handle. “Listen,” counsels Jackie, “to the very definite style Tolliver is getting as a ballad writer. The way I hear it, for example, there are dark colors in my mind when I listen to one of his ballads—purples, blacks, dark blues. No light greens or yellows.”

Like Moncur’s The Coaster, Green’s Idle Moments, and Hutcherson’s Mirrors, the early 60s “vibes” are employed here to great effect. This sound helped define an era of Blue Note recordings.