One Step Beyond — Jackie McLean (Blue Note, 1963) Artwork

Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast

Every day, Danny from Kissa Kissa -- the Japanese-style jazz vinyl bar in Crown Heights, Brooklyn -- pulls one album from the stacks and tells you who made it, why it matters, and what to listen for. Three minutes, one record you need to hear. Calendar-driven picks tied to recording dates and artist birthdays, plus deep cuts from the Kissa Kissa collection.

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Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast

One Step Beyond — Jackie McLean (Blue Note, 1963)

May 01, 2026 • Sticky Note Studios • Episode 5

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Recorded on this date in 1963. McLean was at a crossroads. The hard bop alto master had spent the late fifties running with Miles Davis and Art Blakey, but by nineteen sixty-three, he was pushing beyond the familiar changes and chord structures. Featured tracks: One Step Beyond, Ghost Town Deep in the Stacks is a daily jazz podcast from Kissa Kissa in Brooklyn.

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More from Sticky Note Podcasts:
The Why of Words (daily etymology) | Required Drinking (cocktail history) | Photography Knowledge (daily photo tips)
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On this date in 1963, Jackie McLean walked into Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliff Studio with a lineup that would define the future of jazz, Bobby Hutcherson on Vibraphone and 17-year-old Tony Williams behind the drums. This is Deep in the Stacks, today's album, One Step Beyond by Jackie McLean. McLean was at a crossroads. The hard Bop Alto Master had spent the late 50s running with Miles Davis and Art Blakey, but by 1963 he was pushing beyond the familiar changes and chord structures. Blue Note gave him the freedom to experiment, and he assembled a quintet that mixed veterans with newcomers. Bobby Hutcherson brought the metallic shimmer of vibraphone to McLean's angular melodies, while Tony Williams, still a teenager, played with a maturity that would soon land him in Miles Davis's second great quintet. Gretchen Monker on trombone and Eddie Kahn on bass completed the lineup. The session produced four originals, all McLean compositions, that showed Bebop could stretch without breaking. Alfred Lyon and Francis Wolfe captured something in transition, the sound of hard Bop opening up into the post-Bop explorations that would define the mid-sixties. Van Gelder's recording gave each instrument space to breathe while maintaining the intimate energy of a working band. Start with the title track, One Step Beyond. McLean's alto enters with a melody that moves in unexpected intervals, supported by Hutcherson's vibraphone chords that ring like distant bells. That's the sound of bebop vocabulary being stretched into new shapes. McLean keeps the intensity but loosens the harmonic grip. Notice how Williams approaches the drums, already showing the loose-limbed style that would revolutionize jazz rhythm sections. On Ghost Town, the rhythm section creates a haunting landscape. One Step Beyond by Jackie McLean. The moment Hard Bop discovered, it could step outside its own rules without losing its soul. I'm Danny from Kissa Kissa in Brooklyn. Go put on a record, we'll see you tomorrow.