(1974) Candy Girl ***1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (electric piano), Frank Abel (electric piano), Lafayette Hudson (bass guitar), Donny Donable (drums)
Record Date: 1974

This must be one of the strangest efforts in Mal Waldron’s discography. A session that is credited to Mal Waldron and brought out under his name. Yet he is not on the personnel list. He composed all of the songs and according to the liner notes on one of the reissues he was in the studios. Released on the pretty obscure French ‘Calumet’ label it was withdrawn for an official release. There’s no original artwork. When you start playing the record and give it a good listen one must conclude that in some parts there are three hands on the electric piano. And of those hands sounds exactly like Mal Waldron… So if it’s really true he is not playing on the record that must mean Frank Abel does a heck of a Waldron imitation and overdubbed his own playing. I think it’s more assumable Mal took part in the session. Fortunately multiple people on the web came to the same conclusion. Try it yourself and see how you feel about it. Maybe I am wrong but I am pretty sure I am right.

So what’s on this record? Something very, very different from everything I know by Mal. It’s electric music, but hey he did that on ‘The Call’ before. But in a stylistic manner this is really something else. It’s very funky music, more funk/soul than jazz with a very recognizable ’70’s sound. When you hear this you almost can’t believe this is the same Mal that recorded some challenging free stuff with Steve Lacy only 2 years before. But again it shows Mal’s creativity and his open mind to all kinds of styles. And his playing in this kind of style doesn’t feel awkward at all. Every composition still has that Mal feeling: the loops, the repeats, it’s all there. And both Waldron’s as Abel’s playing and soloing is awesome, as are Hudson’s thick and fat bass runs. The only break from the funky ’70’s feel is the ‘Dedication to Brahms’ composition which is more ballad like. And listen to it: if this ain’t Mal I will personally eat, digest and poop out my own running shoes (so I hope I am right and if I am not I will deny anyway).

Now this whole record is an experience itself. It’s great music, but not completely my taste. The synth’s as played by Abel are a bit outdated for me and sometimes I miss a bit of the challenging music Mal used to play in this decade. On the other hand: the music is very relaxed en well played. It grooves and swings and is perfect for those kind of moment you don’t feel for complex music but just want to tap your foot.

The original and coverless release from 1975 is very, very rare. If you have a thing for hard to get collectors items be my guest and pay a thousand euros for it. It also has been reissued by Libreville records in 5 or 6 different kind of versions, all with differing artwork. All legit and remastered from the original tapes. I’ve got the one with the naked woman on it. They really did an excellent job remastering the music: it sounds spotless and as if it was recorded this century. Plenty of copies are still for sale but they are all expensive. From a historical point of view, this is essential Mal. From a pure artistic point of view it’s not.