Jackie's Bag is split between two different recording sessions: the first, from January 1959, was the first session
Jackie McLean ever led for Blue Note, and the second was a sextet date from September 1960 that featured tenor saxophonist
Tina Brooks as a co-leader in all but name. According to the liner notes,
McLean's first date produced only three songs of releasable quality, which are included here. Six tunes were cut at the
Brooks session, which were all issued in Japan as
Street Singer, and half appeared on the original
Jackie's Bag LP. Given the transitional time period of the first and
Brooks' musical taste on the second, the music on
Jackie's Bag finds
McLean in a staunchly hard bop mode, with occasional hints of adventurousness. While
McLean's debut performances are certainly well done, the most distinctive appeal of the album lies in the
Brooks collaborations. There are exotic flavors to
McLean's terrific "Appointment in Ghana" and
Brooks' "Isle of Java"; of the newly added bonus tracks,
Brooks' "Medina" has a particularly complex and memorable theme, and his "Street Singer" was actually issued on his own Back to the Tracks album as well. Despite crucial contributions from trumpeter
Blue Mitchell and drummer
Art Taylor, the real focal point of these performances is the complementary interplay between
McLean and
Brooks, the latter of whom does a nice job of matching the former's legendarily hard-edged tone.
McLean devotees will want this anyway, but the quality of the
Street Singer material pushes
Jackie's Bag far beyond a simple gap-plugging historical release.