Jackie McLean's band on
New York Calling, the Cosmic Brotherhood, plays with uncompromising passion, fury, and intelligence. The group, a generation younger than the leader, has a sound that is definitive '70s advanced hard bop. Although not as well-known as some of their contemporaries, by the time of this 1974 recording, the members of
McLean's quintet had logged playing time with many of the leaders of the hard bop scene:
McCoy Tyner,
Gary Bartz, Sam Rivers,
Art Blakey,
Freddie Hubbard, and others. In addition to exceptional chops, the band has strong writers in trumpeter
Billy Skinner and pianist
Billy Gault. Their tightly voiced arrangements, punctuated by roiling power surges from the rhythm section, call to mind the work of
Woody Shaw, whose classic Moontrane was also recorded in 1974. However, where
Shaw's music possesses an urbane, majestic poise,
Skinner and
Gault go for a skittering, street-level urgency.
McLean, recognizing the powerful talents in his midst -- including
McLean's son, René, on tenor, alto, and soprano sax -- comes across as one among equals. It's to
McLean's credit that the date bears the stamp of his band's artistry as much as it does his own.