2014 reissue, originally released in 1962. A young Jackie McLean at the height of his powers - really stretching out here, but never going too far out - a perfect balance between his modern bop of previous records, and his groundbreaking "new thing" jazz to come! The group is a relatively straight ahead one - with Walter Davis on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums - but the tracks are all quite long, and have this really arch sensibility on Jackie's horn - this edge, this cry he didn't have a few years before - easily one of the freshest voices in alto sax at the time, yearning here to break free with new ideas and new modes of expression. The vibe is perfectly balanced - like McLean's classic A Fickle Sonance - and titles include the classic "Melody For Melonae", plus "Rene", "I'll Keep Loving You", and "Omega"