BLP 4165

 Jackie McLean - Destination Out

Released - October 1964

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, September 20, 1963
Grachan Moncur III, trombone; Jackie McLean, alto sax; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Larry Ridley, bass; Roy Haynes, drums.

tk.4 Esoteric
tk.7 Love And Hate
tk.19 Kahlil The Prophet
tk.24 Riff Raff

Session Photos

Jackie McLean

Jackie McLean and Grachan Moncur III

Larry Ridley

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Love And Hate	Grachan Moncur III	20 September 1963
Esoteric	Grachan Moncur III	20 September 1963
Side Two
Kahlil The Prophet	Jackie McLean	20 September 1963
Riff Raff	Grachan Moncur III	20 September 1963

Liner Notes

The sounds and moods that were captured by the group on One Step Beyond (BLP 4137) inspired me to continue to work along those lines. There was so much tonal quality woven by this group that I wanted to record with Grachan, Bobby and myself again.

At this point, I would like to make a confession. During the middle 1950's, I was very uninspired as far as playing was concerned. My search for Inspiration was clouded by a depression which was not evident to me at the time.

But for a few exceptions, the average young musician was quite contented to play the same things over and over again, confessing again that I too was included; yet I was unhappy musically, feeling a deep unrest and wanting to strike out beyond "the groove." But let’s talk about today.

Everything changes with time, and music is no different. Today the compositions are getting more and more Involved with form, rhythm changes and time breaks. For example, In the past, most of the jazz compositions consisted of melody, usually In four-four time with the solos following, more-or-less, in the some stereotype expectancy.

Today, we live in an age at speed and variety; we live In an age of men seeking to explore worlds beyond; and since music is but an expression at the happenings around us, it Is quite natural for the young musician to express or attempt to express the mood and tempo of our time; lust as ragtime music painted a portrait of the era of prohibition, so too does today's jazz paint a portrait of the space age.

Strangely enough, this recording session started almost In the same vein as "One Step Beyond." Rehearsals were set up for Grachan, Bobby and myself. Between the three of us, we ironed out the rough spots and in about a week and a half I was ready to seek out a drummer and bassist. I chose Larry Ridley on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. My choice was mainly because i knew these musicians would be able to add the Ingredients needed for the rounding out of the composition; secondly, there was no problem of getting them to come to rehearsals. It is a stimulating feeling to have a rehearsal and find things serious yet happy. Happy surroundings can make things so much more relaxed and when things are relaxed, the group can accomplish the desired.

The material used on this date is an example of what I spoke of earlier when I mentioned today‘s music expressing the mood of our time and its influence on the people.

In the composition on this date can be heard time changes, different musical form and the new approach to improvisation.

The first composition I would like to talk about is Moncur’s “Love And Hate.” He chose this premise as subject matter lor the only ballad represented in this album.

In my opinion, and perhaps the opinion of others, this topic would seem more suited for a poet or pointer; in other words, something to be expressed verbally or visually; but the fascination lies in the fact that Grachan captured ”Love And Hate" in a very simple way, using few notes and yet one detects loneliness, sadness and beauty, each blending and distinctly standing apart from the other; a true work of art.

Another original by Grachan is entitled "Esoteric." This tune moves from three-four to four-four time, the effect being undoubtedly original.

l enjoyed recording this particular composition for several reasons because it gives the soloist something to concentrate on without losing the excitement of the mood it creates. Here too, emotion fits into the picture because of the strength of its structure.

Bobby’s vibe accompaniment is an added treat. To sum it up, everybody was playing hard and serious.

My contribution to this session is entitled, "Kahlil The Prophet.” Once again, we find an example of rhythm variations in this composition. The only difference is that the time remains four-four throughout the solo sections. The melody sections have a lot of drum breaks and Roy Haynes handles this with the skill that has made him the drum master that he Is.

Now, we come to another Grachan Moncur original entitled, "Riff Raff" This is a blues in disguise. Here again Grachan has created a mood with a line that is simple; the tempo and melody gives a feeling of complete relaxation. There isn’t too much more that I can say for the tune other than suggest that you sit back and relax.

The rhythm section on this session gave the compositions exactly what I wanted. Roy Haynes has been on the jazz scene for many years. He's seen jazz go through a lot of changes. i would say that he is an all around drummer. He recorded and worked with Bud Powell in the late forties, and spent a long period with Charlie Parker. I can also remember Roy with Sarah Vaughn during the middle fifties. Today Roy is a living example of the jazz musician's progress with the times.

The support that Bobby Hutcherson gives to the soloist is fantastic. He never falls into any particular groove. I can never tell what he is going to play behind me. He's full at imagination and beauty both as soloist and accompanist.

Larry Ridley is like the whipped cream that is needed to make the chocolate pie complete. His bass line weaves in and out between the vibes and drums, leaving things tree and still swinging.

Grachan Moncur speaks for himself, both in his compositions and in his solos. I respect him for his confidence and his determination to be original. This is not on easy thing to do.

in conclusion, I would like to say that i can't help but wonder what the future holds for America's number one art form. I have traveled across this vast country and I am sorry to say that the jazz scene looks pretty sad, by this I mean there are so many talented musicians around and so few clubs to perform in. I think it's a shame to let these many talents with so much to say to starve literally and musically. l think it’s time for this country to wake up and support an art form that belongs to America. On the other hand, the jazz audience in America is growing more and more with each year that passes, and I pray that things will soon change.

Jazz is a happy thing and there are a lot of musicians around waiting to give a little happiness to a world filled with so much unrest.

- JACKIE MCLEAN

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes[edit]

A NEW LOOK AT DESTINATION OUT

As was the case on all of the Blue Note albums for which he wrote his own liner notes, Jackie McLean is most eloquent on the motivation, background, and particulars of the present music. He was too modest, however, to direct some of the deserving praise he offers his colleagues toward his own excellent work here. The personal dissatisfaction of a few years earlier that McLean mentions was overcome by the new directions he had heard in the music of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman, and by the complementary notions of his sidemen Grachan Moncur Ill and Bobby Hutcherson. What emerged in McLean's music of the early '60s were not radical adjustments (especially in light of what Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler et al. were doing at the time), but rather an application of different scales and shifting tempos that provided a liberating sense of openness without taking the saxophonist completely out of his established orbit. Moncur's "Love and Hate" is one of the best examples in all of the music McLean recorded during the period of how a relatively simple adjustment in musical structure allowed him to reach the expressive results that had proven so elusive only a few years earlier.

The instrumentation that McLean employed here, and on the previous One Step Beyond, also added character to the music. Choosing trombone rather than trumpet as a second horn gave greater depth to the ensemble passages and produced a particularly effective blend, given McLean's astringent alto tone. This was a variation on the more common tenor/trombone blend that had been used effectively in bands led by Stan Getz, J. J. Johnson, and Curtis Fuller/Benny Golson in the '50s, and that had more recently been adopted by the Jazz Crusaders and Chico Hamilton. As was the case with Hamilton, who employed a guitar in his rhythm section, McLean went a step further by using vibes as his "chording" instrument, a choice made all the more effective by the open-minded approach of Bobby Hutcherson to both soloing and accompaniment.

Another presence that had made One Step Beyond so distinctive was drummer Tony Williams, in his first recorded performance to be released. He is replaced here by another polyrhythmic master from Boston, Roy Haynes. Williams was too young to receive direct hometown inspiration from Haynes, who was already in New York at the time of the younger drummer's birth; but the crisp conversational interplay that Haynes helped introduce to the jazz world (and that Bostonians Alan Dawson and the lesser-known Bobby Ward had passed directly on to Williams) had clearly been part of the younger drummer's foundation. Haynes, who did not always get the chance to open up during his years as sideman supreme for the likes of Getz and Sarah Vaughan, could clearly drive a soloist as hard an any drummer around (hear his live 1958 work with Thelonious Monk for a prime example), and had spent part of 1963 subbing for Elvin Jones in Coltrane's quartet. This is the first of several exceptional appearances Haynes made on Blue Note with McLean and Andrew Hill.

Moncur is another standout here, for his writing and his playing. There is great variety in his compositions, which break out of the 32-bar, 4/4 tempo mold without indulging in complexity or novelty for their own sakes. The same can be said for the readers "Kahlil the Prophet'" (no doubt named for Kahlil Gibram, author of The Prophet, which McLean had quoted in his previous liner notes), where the modal modulations are not of the standard "So What" variety. The music is also programmed in a manner that is both unusual and highly effective, with the two slower pieces framing up-tempo items in which shifting tempos ("Esoteric") and modes ("Kahlil") further the sense of momentum And the placement of the more traditional blues "Riff Raff" as the final track allows the album to end with a wonderful sense of relaxed release.

The cover of Destination Out is as good as the music, and might be considered part of the "Out" series of the time that also included Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch and Joe Henderson's In 'N Out Unlike those albums where regular Blue Note art director Reid Miles is credited with the design, the present cover is the work of one Larry Miller, who definitely captured both the classic Blue Note spirit and the particular feeling of this classic session.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2003