1976 · Album
Like Old Times
Recorded 1959 · Riverside Records · Produced by Orrin Keepnews
Returning to the Source with Jackie McLean
McLean and his crew play with the ease of musicians who've known each other for years, swinging without strain.
Like Old Times catches Jackie McLean in a relaxed, confident mood—the kind of session where everyone in the room knows the job and just gets to work. McLean's alto sax cuts through with that characteristic sharp, slightly bitter tone of his, the one that never quite smooths into prettiness no matter how lyrical the tune. He's surrounded by musicians he clearly trusts, and it shows in how loose the playing feels. There's no struggling for ideas here, no sense of anyone proving anything. The conversation between horns moves naturally, the rhythm section locks in without fanfare, and the whole thing breathes like a group that's played these songs a hundred times and could play them a hundred more.
What makes this album sit comfortably in McLean's catalog is exactly that—its comfort. This isn't the album to grab if you want to hear him breaking new ground or pushing against the edges of what alto saxophone could do. It's the album for when you want to hear a master craftsman in his element, playing music that matters to him without any need to prove his importance. The tunes move at an easy pace, nothing so experimental that it challenges you, nothing so straightforward that it bores. It's solid, professional jazz from a musician who by this point in the late 1950s had already logged serious time and knew his way around a session.
Start here if you're new to McLean and want to hear him at ease, though his earlier work and his more searching recordings later on will give you fuller picture of his range. Like Old Times is best appreciated as what it is—a confident snapshot of a working musician doing what he does well, without drama, without apology. Sometimes that's exactly what you need from a record.
