Currently, these two albums appear to be among the most widely circulated public domain artifacts and every time they are recycled they are pushed through my letterbox. The last occasion was when I reviewed them as part of Avid's Four Classic Albums series (AMSC 1080) and my opinion hasn't changed. Despite replacing Miles in Bird's quintet (1948), being a founding member of The Jazz Messengers (1956-58), plus recording associations with Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane and others, it wasn't until he signed with Blue Note that he enjoyed wider recognition. Due to the vagaries of the jazz world, these two albums with McLean were recorded during the middle of his Blue Note tenure and depict all concerned leading from the front. Of the dozen tracks Jackie McLean delivers a passionate ‘Lover Man’ along with his familiar composition ‘Melanie’, while Dorham supplies two of his more famous originals – ‘El Matador’ and ‘Una Mas’.