With: Mal Waldron (piano)
Record date: July 12, 1972
Just like the previous year and the year before that, Mal took his annual trip to Japan. It really became an annual thing from 1970. Sometimes he stayed a month, sometimes a couple of months. Later in the '80's he had a few apartments over there and met his second wife. On July 12, 1972 he gave a solo concert at Dug’s jazz club in Tokyo. It was recorded and brought out by Victor Japan: another great record produced by that record label.
Now as I stated before: Mal solo could result in two things. Some of his solo records are a bit boring, while others are among the best music he has made. On ‘Meditations’ Mal was clearly in prime form: it’s among his best solo outings. The compositions are all well chosen, with some known compositions by Mal, some new compositions dedicated to Japan and a good old jazz standard that is played in a not so standard kind of way.
Mal starts with a true classic: ‘All Alone’. And because it’s mostly written out music, this version of course sounds a lot like all the other versions around. Yet it strikes me every time as one of his most beautiful and breathtaking compositions. It’s also a beautiful way to set the atmosphere for the rest of the night. The following Blues suite is exactly that: a long suite with a bluesy feel. The music goes in every direction: some of the phrases are more calm and others are more challenging. Mal plays with ideas and rhythm and falls back on the main theme multiple times. It’s a fascinating listen and though the music is pretty calm an straightforward: this truly is music that deserves your full attention. Because there is a lot going on, but you really need to listen to it. There is no pianist that could make silence sound so beautiful.
On the songs referring to places in Japan he plays with eastern tonality, but in a completely different way as say Alice Coltrane was doing at the time. This is still very ‘Mal Waldron’ but the Japanese influence is very evident in his sound here. On ‘Tokyo Reverie’ he didn’t really manage to catch that atmosphere, but here he does very well. ‘The Stone Garden of Ryoanji’ is just like ‘All Alone’ indescribably beautiful. Really I do not have words to describe it. It has this dark and deep feeling within it that just makes me silent. The version of ‘Summertime’ is good but nothing special. Closing up is one of Mal’s other classic’s ‘Left Alone’. And there could not be a better way to close this beautiful live record.
Also very nice: the live atmosphere. Dug was and is a small club so it’s a modest applause he gets but that really contributes to the intimate feeling of the music as are the sounds of cutlery on plates and clinking glasses.
Together with ‘Tokyo Bound’, this is the only Victor record by Mal that appeared on cd. It makes me wonder even more why they don’t reissue his other works, especially because there is a pretty high demand for it. Anyway the original LP is still available for a pretty reasonable price. Japanese label ‘Somethin’ New’ reissued it on cd in 2016. That’s the one I’ve got and it’s great. Beautiful sound, solid packaging in a replica mini LP jacket. Liner notes are of course…. In Japanese. I might start a course as I feel I’m missing so much information. One of Mal’s solo works you could buy without hesitation. But do promise to sit for it, preferable with headphones on.
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