(1971) Signals ***1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano solo)
Record date: August 14, 1971

In August 1971, Mal was back in Holland again and recorded his third solo studio record. His first was ‘All Alone’ , the second ‘Tokyo Reverie’. And just like that album, ‘Signals’ is full of Mal originals and there are no standards. Generally, Mal is at his best playing his own work or perhaps that of Monk, especially when he is solo. Where ‘Tokyo Reverie’ sounds a bit uninspired and lost at times, ‘Signals’ is better. Mal does sound inspired here, although he not manages to reach the level of his live solo outings.

The title song start with some uncomfortable dissonant tunes that slightly go up into a more accessible melody. It’s a typical dark Mal theme with some kind of march feel in it. Like a national anthem from the 19th century, played by a military march band. From there Mal’s stretches out in his usual style. The same goes for ‘Things That Go Bump in The Night’ (lovely title), which has a more bluesy feel. Mal stretches out again, changes rhythms, changes and themes trough the song, which keeps the he attention of the listener. Again there are hints of classic composers like Satie, especially at the end of the song. Mal once stated he learned from Satie that less was more in a lot of cases. And that more definitely wasn’t always better. According to Mal, that was a problem to some of the jazz pianists in his days that always tried to play as much notes as possible. Yet Mal, modest as he was, never really criticized his colleague musicians. ‘If there’s an audience, the music is good, even if there is only one: then still one person enjoys it’. Plenty of wisdom by Mal there. 

Side B continues where side A ended. It’s a great showcase of Mal’s developments since 1966. This is a very different Mal than on the 1966 recording ‘All Alone’ for GTA records. The music here is more advanced and developed and Mal sounds more secure en definite. He never played the originals again on other albums.

‘Signals’ was recorded in The Netherlands but first released in the US on the ‘Freedom’ label in 1977. After that it was issued three more times on vinyl, but never on cd. The LP’s are widely available for low prices (especially for a Waldron record). Also there’s a digital and remastered version available trough Amazon music, Spotify etc. Recommended, but not essential. Mal has mad worse but also better solo albums.