Jackie McLean: Vertigo (180g) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

A 180g gatefold pressing of Vertigo, the 1962 and 1963 Jackie McLean sessions Blue Note sat on until 1980. It features a young Tony Williams on drums and Herbie Hancock on piano at the start of their careers.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold sleeve
• Six tracks across two sides

About the album

Blue Note recorded so much in the early 60s that some great sessions simply got lost in the shuffle, and Vertigo is one of them. Jackie McLean cut these tracks in 1962 and 1963, right as he was moving from hard bop toward something freer, and the label left them in the vault until its LT series finally put them out in 1980.

The 1963 date is the heart of it, with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass and a teenage Tony Williams on drums pushing everything forward. "Marney", "Dusty Foot" and the title track have McLean's sharp, searching alto right up front, and "Formidable" reaches back to 1959. It's a reminder that Blue Note's leftovers are most labels' highlights. Seventeen years in a vault, and it still came out ahead of its time.

Tracklist

Listen

Out August 7, 2026 on Blue Note (cat# LT-1085), a reissue of the 1980 album.