Jackie McLean – Demon’s Dance (UHQCD)

Jackie McLean’s music was closely intertwined with avant-garde styles in the 1960s, with the brilliant albums “One Step Beyond” and “Destination… Out!” from 1963, before moving on to free jazz with “New And Old Gospel” (with Ornette Coleman on trumpet) and “’Bout Soul” from 1967. Recorded in December 1967, “Demon’s Dance” showcases the great alto saxophonist in a decidedly post-bop style, accompanied by a lively quintet consisting of trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist LaMont Johnson, double bassist Scott Holt, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The six tracks on the album were written in equal parts by McLean, Shaw and composer Cal Massey. Among the most beautiful pieces are McLean’s title track, Shaw’s melodious bossa “Sweet Love Of Mine” and Massey’s lively swing “Message From Trane”, dedicated to the unforgettable John Coltrane, who had passed away a few months before the album’s release. However, the most striking feature of this record is undoubtedly the impressive cover image by Mati Klairwein, who also designed the cover of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew”.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series”, Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for the analog reissues of Blue Note US such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited-edition Japan only UHQCD with OBI Stripe. The recording session for “Demon’s Dance” took place on December 22, 1967 at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

1.    Demon’s Dance
2.    Toyland
3.    Boo Ann’s Grand
4.    Sweet Love Of Mine
5.    Floogeh
6.    Message From Trane