“WHAT THE CRITIC’S HAVE TO SAY”

Amsterdam news:

Renè McLean’s new CD Live in South Africa “Generations to Come” is a lively cultural fertilization of American and African roots. This is one of McLean’s best recordings to date not only as leader but a player as well, playing multiple instruments with effortless precision (alto , tenor, soprano saxophones, flute, shakuhachi, a Japanese flute and percussion). McLean doesn’t consider his music as just Jazz, which he finds somewhat confining. He prefers “Pan-African music”. He noted, “ this is my term for what it is I do and who we are culturally on a global level. Our music is being fused and absorbed by other cultures such as Africa, Middle-east, Asia and South America. All these elements (a mixture of their language, culture and musical knowledge) are being developed into a world eclectic sound that is bringing together larger and more diverse audiences”.

Cadence Jazz Magazine:

McLean’s full immersion into the rhythm, drive, and spirit of the music of South Africa is crystallized on his new CD Live in South Africa Generations to Come, on I’jazza Records. The multi-reed player, who has lived and taught at the university level in South Africa since 1985, joins forces with four South African musicians, two West Africans, and fellow country-man on this joyous outing in the beautiful city of Cape Town. Typical of much of the music produced in that country, the recording is a lively celebration that filters infectious indigenous rhythms into strongly woven threads of western improvisation.

McLean’s Hard Bop attack welded to the native drive from the African musicians, however, that continually spurs this session forward. Mclean rolls out a wide variety of energized solos over the heavy rhythmic cushion to make the selections an amalgam of national concepts.

Chicago Tribune:

“Great talent in the performing arts does not typically pass from parent to child, but the happy exception to that rule can be heard this week at the Jazz Show case…There alto saxophonist Jackie Mclean is sharing the stage with his son and long time partner Renè McLean a remarkably strong improviser on alto, tenor, soprano saxophones and flutes. Together, these artists are performing with a fury and drive one does not often encounter….the senior Mclean is but half the show, for his son plays with equal intensity, if in a different musical idiom. Influenced by the rhythmic irregularities of Thelonius Monk’s music as well as the free-flying improvisations of the avant-garde, Renè Mclean clearly has forged a style of his own”

Japan Times weekly:

Sounds from three cultures-Asian-African and American are interwoven to form a synthesis of Global music at the April 4^th performance of Renè McLean’s band Easterly Wind at the Cay restaurant/club in Tokyo’s Spiral building…multi-reed instrumentalist McLean’s playing surely ranks with those other top American bop players as George Coleman, Ricky Ford and George Adams….In an interview with the weekly, McLean said his “music is all about communication and avoiding being pigeon-holed…by creating what he terms world music, Mclean says he hopes to transcend national boundaries”….

Jazziz:

“With his first solo recording for Triloka records, McLean is one step closer to claiming his own platform among America’s great musicians”…although African influences have been appropriated by many who create music in America, rarely has someone been able to translate it so convincingly as Renè McLean does here. In African Eyes was recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa, using over 30 local musicians who successfully unite customary Township rhythms with the character of mainstream American Jazz.

New Nation:

It is rare in the ruthless, competitive music world to find artists with a real commitment to sharing their knowledge and experience with others. But for American multi-reed instrumentalist, composer and Jazz educator Renè McLean teaching is as important as playing. “The role of the artist is to use what they do to empower people, raise their consciousness and heal them”, he explains. “But performing is only one part of it. You have to give back. That is the only way you keep the tradition going…. Artists have to be prepared to take a chance on themselves, why should somebody else? McLean asks….One thing I admire about the Hip-hop movement is that the young brotha’s and sista’s in the city are doing it for themselves”…….

Village Voice:

“The evening’s highlight was a sequence where in lieu of the usual fours, Jackie McLean and Renè McLean alternated in a series of Sax-drums duets…. During the more than 20 years that Renè has toured with his father’s bands, he has become an increasingly persuasive player, but he’s almost always reflected his father’s impress. Recently, he seems to have come into a sound more of his own. Whereas once he sounded like Jackie McLean on tenor, now he explores the more indigenous reach of the tenor, especially down below, and (conversely) the steeper altitude of the soprano. His solos are concentrated compilations of short, prodding figures, endlessly varied and strengthened with an intonation that recalls Coltrane in his Meditations period”…..

Washington Post:

The connection between African roots and American Jazz is often referred to, but seldom has been demonstrated as persuasively as it is on Renè McLean’s CD “In African Eyes” Triloka records.