Jackie McLean

It’s Time! finds Jackie McLean in the company of Charles Tolliver (trumpet), Herbie Hancock(piano), Cecil McBee (bass), and Roy Haynes (drums), fully committed to pushing forward. The compositions carry spiritual and political weight, and the arrangements make room for assertive horn lines, driving rhythms, and moments of unexpected lyricism. McLean’s playing is as biting as ever, but his navigation of more open, modal spaces shows an expanded vocabulary. Hancock and Tolliver bring fresh, incisive ideas; McBee and Haynes keep the music poised between groove and freedom. The album title functions as a challenge, and the music lives up to it.