(1971) Black Glory ***** & Mal Waldron Plays The Blues: Live at the Domicile ****1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), Pierre Favre (drums)
Record date: June 29, 1971

In June 1971, Mal Waldron appeared with his trio at ‘The Domicile’: a famous jazz clubs in Mal’s then hometown Munich, West Germany. It resulted in two fantastic records: ‘Mal Waldron Plays the Blues’ and ‘Black Glory’. Both were recorded that same night so that must have been a hell of concert!

In these years, Mal did work with a (very large) circle of musicians but didn’t had a regular group as he had later with Reggie Workman and Ed Blackwell for example. So on every ’70’s session it’s a surprise with whom he works that time. Here it’s the great Jimmy Woode on bass and the Swiss drummer Pierre Favre. Woode has played with so many musicians, starting with the Duke, Johnny Hodges and Sidney Bechet, then Johnny Griffin and after that so many more like Ted Curson and Art Farmer. His first recording with Mal was with Benny Bailey at the very same Domicile jazz club. He was to appear on two more records by Mal: the live album ‘A Touch of the Blues’ and Mal’s classic ‘One-Upmanship’. A bassist that was mostly in the background, that on these records really is more up in the mix and gets plenty of solo space to stretch out. He reveals himself to be an amazing bassist with enormous potential. He should have been featured more on other records. Drummer Favre was a much in demand drummer within the European jazz and avant-garde scene playing with the likes of Albert Mangelsdorff, Michel Portal and Iréne Schweizer. But also with Americans like the great Joe McPhee.

Funny to mention: ‘Black Glory’ wasn’t intended to be released in the first place. The plan was to record some of the blues pieces that eventually were on the Japanese Polydor release ‘Mal Waldron Plays the Blues’. The songs on ‘Black Glory’ were to uhm… warm up a little. Enja engineer Horst Weber did a great job recording the complete gig, as ‘Black Glory’ turnt out to be an even stronger record than the other release (though that one is very good also). Black Glory was Mal’s first record for Enja records. The first label he produced multiple albums for part from Victor Japan. Lots of beautiful stuff was to be brought out on the German label: ‘Moods’, ‘One-Upmanship’, ‘Hard Talk’ and even more. It was a fruitful relation.

Black Glory starts of with the Haile Selassie ode: ‘Sieg Haile’. I always wondered if the title wouldn’t be a little controversial in Germany in 1971. After all, the nazi’s were only gone for 26 years. The Bierkeller Putsch there in Munchen was only 48 years ago. Still the title really covers the music: it has a very strong and proud feeling which was probably meant for Selassie but also has that military march feeling. It’s one of Mal’s classic compositions with a fascinating theme. The interaction between Mal and Jimmy Woode is mind blowing. The way Jimmy dances around the chords reminds me of how Scott LaFaro did that with Evans, though this music is completely different. The followup ‘La Gloire Du Noire’ makes a first and last appearance here. It again shows Mal was involved (in his mind at least) with the Black consciousness movement overseas in the United States. ‘The Call’ is of course fascinating to hear in an acoustic version. Horst Weber states he likes the acoustic version better, but for me it’s to close to call. Because of the acoustic sound it does have a more emotional feel. It’s a great song anyway and this version is at least just as good as the electric original on the JAPO album.

For such a classic in someone’s discography, one may state the album is too hard to find. But although long out of print, it is not to difficult to obtain a copy. The whole concert was pretty well recorded. I’ve got the German 1994 release and the Japanese 2006 release. Both are great. This is essential Mal.

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), Pierre Favre (drums)
Record date: June 29, 1971 

As this music comes from the very same session as ‘Black Glory’ this review won’t be very long as most of the statements I made there are also speaking for this record. This is the record that was initially meant for release. It’s a big bluesy suite of 5 songs and the tone set on ‘Black Glory’ is very much continued. It’s bluesy, it’s raw, it’s dark and it’s smokey. The space every musician gets is enormous and they all play their butt’s off. Mal said he never really wanted to tell a rhythm section what to play and what not to play. According to them, they had too play what however they wanted to play. That really pays of in live sessions with highly talented guys like Jimmy Woode and Pierre Favre like this. The way Woode imitates motives by Mal and how they interact with each other on “Way in’ for example is just awesome. Don’t think that blues means calm and predictable music here. And though ‘Black Glory’ probably a very tiny bit better, this record still is essential and should not be omitted by any Mal fan.  

The record was initially released in Japan only by Polydor. It was reissued on vinyl in Germany first in 1986 and made it’s first cd appearance in Japan in 1990. I’ve got the German 2001 cd version which doesn’t only sound great but also contains long and informative liner notes including lots of quotes by Mal Waldron. It also was recently reissued in Japan again in a limited budget version on Solid records. Those reissues are mostly pretty cheap and okay sound wise. But do not expect too much from the packaging or liner notes (when you do not speak Japanese of course).