Jackie McLean – Jackie’s Pal (Prestige Mono) (AP 33rpm Vinyl LP)

Cut from the analogue masters by renowned mastering engineer Kevin Gray

200-gram pressing by Quality Record Pressings

Deluxe high-gloss tip-on album jacket

The perennially underrated Bill Hardman (1932-90) was one of the unsung trumpet heroes of the modern era. His raw sound and tense, “running” attack were featured in three separate editions of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the first and most memorable of which found him sharing the front line with Jackie McLean and Johnny Griffin. McLean, who was already an established Prestige artist, gave Hardman the spotlight on this 1956 blowing date, recorded with a blue-ribbon rhythm section after the pair left Charles Mingus’s workshop and before they joined Blakey.

Originally released in 1956

Jackie McLean, alto sax
Bill Hardman, trumpet
Mal Waldron, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Philly Joe Jones, drums