(1972) Jazz a Confronto 19 **1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano)
Record date: April 4, 1972

In his endless touring trough Europe, Mal made lots of records, for lots of labels. In April, he was in Italy, the country he secondly resided in when he made the journey to the Old Continent. He went into the studios to make a solo record for Aldo Sinesio’s ‘Horo’ label. Sinesio, a jazz afficionado from Italy who recorded plenty of talented Americans who were visiting Italy in the ’70’s. People like Max Roach, George Adams, Lester Bowie, Sun Ra and many more. Mal recorded for the Jazz a Confronto series of the label.

Like the earlier solo effort of this year, ‘Blues for Lady Day’, this is not one of the most interesting Mal sessions. It is full of Mal originals which gives the whole album a little bit more of a creative spark but the compositions were probably written fast on a piece of paper and recorded immediately. And as we know from his time at Prestige: Mal could write 6 compositions a day that all sound a bit different. What is definitely interesting to hear is that there is already a slight hint of ‘One Upmanship’ in the song ‘Breakin’ Trough’. It was not unusual Mal would pick old compositions and change or adjust them a little into something new. All in all the album is a nice view into what Mal was doing in those years, building up nice soloing around repeating bluesy theme’s. But it has mostly a practicing feel in it: like he was testing and practicing, trying out new idea’s. The best and most beautiful song is probably the 'Lullaby'.

Some of the Horo LP’s are pretty rare these days. Mal’s ‘Jazz A Confronto 19’ is not. With 14 copies for sale on Discogs it’s pretty widely available. There’s seven versions available, some with different artwork. I have got the Italian one without a release date. It's more than okay soundwise. Producer Aldo Sinesio was made several offers to reissue on cd but wasn’t interested. He did hold a few copies of certain records which he sold for quite a lot of money…. That is at least what I have been told. That would have been a pretty ugly thing to do. Anyway: there’s definitely more interesting Mal out there. Also more interesting music on the ‘Horo’ Label. Completists only.