Let Freedom Ring

1963 studio album by Jackie McLean

Let Freedom Ring

Studio album by

Jackie McLean

Released

May 1963^[1]

Recorded

March 19, 1962

Studio

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Genre

Hard bop, post-bop, modal jazz

Length

38:16

Label

Blue Note
BST 84106

Producer

Alfred Lion

Jackie McLean chronology

A Fickle Sonance
(1961)

Let Freedom Ring
(1963)

Tippin' the Scales
(1962)

Let Freedom Ring is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean, recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.^[2] It features McLean in a quartet with pianist Walter Davis Jr., bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Billy Higgins.

McLean wrote three of the four compositions. "Melody for Melonae" is dedicated to his daughter (as was an earlier composition, "Little Melonae"), and appeared as "Melanie" on Matador, a later recording that he made with Kenny Dorham. The slower-tempo performance on Let Freedom Ring was the first occasion that McLean used "provocative upper-register screams".^[3] "Rene" and "Omega" are both blues-related pieces, the former with a standard twelve-bar structure and harmonies, the latter more abstract and modal. The one non-McLean track is Bud Powell's ballad, "I'll Keep Loving You".

Reception

The Allmusic review by Steve Huey awarded the album 5 stars and stated: "The success of Let Freedom Ring paved the way for a bumper crop of other modernist innovators to join the Blue Note roster and, artistically, it still stands with One Step Beyond as McLean's greatest work."^[4] The Penguin Guide to Jazz gives Let Freedom Ring four out of four stars, and includes the album in a select "Core Collection".^[5]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[4]
Penguin Guide to Jazz	^[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Jackie McLean except where noted

"Melody for Melonae" - 13:24
"I'll Keep Loving You" (Bud Powell) - 6:18
"Rene" - 10:03
"Omega" - 8:31

Personnel

References

^ Billboard May 18, 1963
^ Jackie McLean discography, accessed January 13, 2013.
^ Bob Blumenthal's liner notes to the 2003 RVG edition.
^ ^a ^b Huey, S. Allmusic review, accessed January 13, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 979–980. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 136. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.