Year of the Iron Sheep

Year of the Iron Sheep was Ken McIntyre's third album, and his first for United Artists Records.[1] It was named after his birth year in the Tibetan calendar.[1]

The album was produced by Alan Douglas[2] and recorded at Sound Mixers, New York City.[3] All of the tracks except "Laura" were composed by McIntyre.[1] The final track, "Someday", was taken from a June 11, 1962 session involving trombonist John Mancebo Lewis,[3] but although he is mentioned on the sleeve[2] this was in fact the only track from that session on which he did not play.[3] A second session, on August 31, yielded "Cosmos", played by McIntyre with Jaki Byard (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Louis Hayes (drums).[3] For the final session, four days later, Hayes was replaced by Ben Riley, and the remaining four tracks on the album were recorded.[3]

Year of the Iron Sheep was released on LP by United Artists.[2] It was later combined with another album and additional tracks on the 2-CD set The Complete United Artists Sessions.[4]

Billboard selected the album as a "special merit pick", commenting that "McIntyre's work on alto and flute is exciting and lyrical, and worth hearing as a new direction in scored jazz."[1]

All compositions by Ken McIntyre except where noted.

1. "Say What" – 5:00
2. "Arisin'" – 10:10
3. "Laura" (David Raksin, Johnny Mercer) – 3:25
4. "96.5" – 4:10
5. "Cosmos" – 5:15
6. "Someday" – 8:47

Tracks 1–4

• Ken McIntyre – alto sax, flute
• Jaki Byard – piano
• Ron Carter – bass
• Ben Riley – drums

Track 5

• Ken McIntyre – alto sax
• Jaki Byard – piano
• Ron Carter – bass
• Louis Hayes – drums

Track 6

• Ken McIntyre – flute
• Ed Stoute – piano
• Ahmed Abdul-Malik – bass
• Warren Smith – drums

(Trombonist John M. Lewis was erroneously credited on the sleeve[2][3])