10 Seconds: Benet McLean
1. Dizzy Gillespie - Long, Long Summer (1'55" - 2'05")
from Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzy on the French Riviera (1962)
“ ‘Dizzy On The French Riviera’ was the first Jazz album I ever heard. It was a Christmas present from my parents when I was 13 and just discovering jazz. This 1962 album features Leo Wright on flute and alto sax, Lalo Schifrin at the piano, Chris White on bass and Rudy Collins on drums. It’s a swinging rhythm section that perfectly underpins the intense soloing from Dizzy, Leo and Lalo. It’s a great album to discover jazz through I think, and I must have listened to it thousands of times over the years. I’ve chosen 10 seconds of Dizzy’s fabulous solo that is full of colour and beautiful phrasing. Leo Wright is also incredible on this track."
2. Dizzy Gillespie - Tin Tin Deo (3’24” - 3’34”)
from Dizzy Gillespie - New Faces (1984)
"Dizzy’s 1984 album ‘New Faces’ is another favourite since childhood. Dizzy put together a band for the album that featured some of the young up and coming musicians of that era. It was the first time I had ever heard Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland. That was a big moment! Both of those players had an influence on my own musical development at the time. Lonnie Plaxico is on bass, Robby Ameen on drums and Steve Thornton on percussion.
For this 10 seconds, I have chosen midway through Branford Marsalis’ dynamite soprano saxophone solo, where he builds to a funky, rhythmic portion. There are beautiful moments all through his solo though, beginning with the melancholic opening strains.”
3. Don Blackman - Holding You, Loving You (1'45" - 1'55")
from Don Blackman - Blackman (1982)
“Don Blackman’s seminal and legendary self-titled 1982 album is a killer. I think this track is beautifully orchestrated with colourful use of celeste, harp glissandos and strings. It has an enigmatic energy and I have always found it quite haunting. The album production made a big impression on me when I first heard it and felt ahead of its time, almost paving the way for future R&B directions. The band includes a young Dennis Chambers on drums.”
4. Loose Tubes - Blue (16'49" - 16'59")
from Loose Tubes - Open Letter (1987)
“I first heard the UK big band Loose Tubes on a 1987 radio broadcast of their Prom performance at the Royal Albert Hall. This band changed my life I think, and the way I looked at music. I’ve chosen an excerpt from a track featured on their third album released in 1988, months after their Prom performance. It’s a moment from saxophonist Julian Argüelles’ soprano saxophone solo on Steve Berry’s beautiful composition ‘Blue’. It has a poignant quality that is perfectly underpinned by Django Bates’ comping and Thebi Lipere’s percussion work. Steve Berry’s chord sequence is on point. Django, Steve, Eddie Parker, et al are still my heroes today, and being able to support them with my band during their Loose Tubes 2014 reunion was a proud moment.”
5. Steve Coleman and Five Elements - No Conscience (0’20” - 0’30”)
from Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Rhythm People (The Resurrection of Creative Black Civilization) (1990)
“When DJs Chris Philips and Jez Nelson started featuring the music of Steve Coleman and Greg Osby on their radio show ‘Somethin’ Else’ in the early 90s, it felt like a new ‘stream’ of music was breaking through, with albums such as Greg Osby’s ‘Mantalk For Moderns’ & ‘Season Of Renewal’, and Steve Coleman’s ‘Rhythm People’, ‘Black Science’, ‘Sine Die’ (and more). I immediately liked the very rhythmic nature of the music, and it frequently involved rhythmic patterns and chants I had never encountered before.
I’ve chosen a track on which Steve raps as well as playing alto saxophone. Amongst other things, I have always loved the juxtaposition of time and the releases from the spoken word verses back to the blowing groove on it. This incredible track also features Marvin ’Smitty’ Smith on drums, David Gilmore on guitar, James Weidman on piano and keyboards and Reggie Washington on bass."
6.Gabriel Faure - Sanctus (0’48” – 0’58”)
from Gabriel Faure - Requiem
“This beautiful choral piece has many childhood connections for me and has a lot of sentimental value. Gabriel Faure, the French composer, lived from 1845 to 1924 and he wrote this in the middle of his life. For this selection, I’ve chosen a beautiful moment from the ’Sanctus’ movement. There is a very nice interplay happening between the harp and the strings, creating a mirror eZect. Classical music was central to my musical development and other favourite composers include Stravinsky, Scriabin and Schoenberg, amongst others.”
7. Steve Williamson - Mandy's Mood (3'51" - 4'-01")
from Steve Williamson - A Waltz For Grace (1990)
"Steve Williamson is another big hero of mine. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Steve perform live a few times. In one London concert around 1988, he and his band were joined by the UK jazz dancers IDJ for the entire show. It was an incredible night of energy and inspiration. The track I have selected was featured on his debut album, A Waltz For Grace, released in 1990 on Verve, and was one of the songs they performed that night.
The excerpt is midway through a burning soprano saxophone solo that captures Steve’s energised and very fluent up-tempo playing. It also features Julian Joseph on piano, Mark Mondesir on drums and Gary Crosby on bass. I’m grateful for the times I have been able to play together with Steve.”
8. Stan Kenton - Unison Riff (0’36” – 0’46”)
from Stan Kenton - Kenton in Hi-Fi (1956)
“The Stan Kenton Big Band has probably been my favourite of the great big bands since first hearing his music. His catalogue of music from his early swing-influenced charts all the way through to challenging and experimental music such as his recording of Bob Graettinger’s ‘City Of Glass’ shows a desire to keep moving and exploring.
Here’s an excerpt of his 1956 band playing Pete Rugolo’s composition ‘Unison RiZ’, featuring a slick alto break into Lennie Niehaus’ solo. The time stamp starts with precise whole-tone piano chords, punctuated by the rhythm section that includes bongos, before some fortitudinous ensemble hits that herald Lennie’s alto solo. The band recorded another great album called ‘Cuban Fire’ in the same year. Don Bagley is on bass and Mel Lewis is on drums, who later co-led the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, in which a young Steve Coleman at one time played.”
9. John Coltrane - Body and Soul (1’15” - 1’25”)
from John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound (1960)
"“This was the first recording that I ever heard of John Coltrane, and it also features McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. I was 13 at the time I first heard it on one of the jazz radio shows of the day, and it made me curious to check out more of this great quartet, particularly because I was playing piano at the time, as well as violin. It was recorded towards the end of 1960 but wasn’t released until 1964.
This excerpt is a moment from the bridge of the track, in which John Coltrane inserts the melody and first few chords of his composition Countdown, recorded on his earlier album Giant Steps. I can just start to hear McCoy Tyner’s fresh approach to harmony and chords, which is to develop more throughout the next few years with Coltrane.”
10. Miles Davis - Straight, No Chaser (3’24” - 3’34”)
from Miles Davis - Milestones (1958)
“Miles Davis’ 1958 album ‘Milestones’ is a seminal classic and features the talents of Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley on alto saxophone, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Of the 6 tracks on the original vinyl release, 4 are blues.
Here is a beautiful moment in Miles’ solo on the Thelonious Monk classic ‘Straight No Chaser’ that exemplifies Miles’ fluent, open tone for me. I love the syncopated pattern on the bass behind Miles at this point too. I find the sonics of this album with the hint of slapback delay very appealing as well, and I have found myself continually returning to the album in recent years.”
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