(1978) Moods ****1/2

 

With: Terumasa Hino (trumpet), Hermann Breuer (trombone), Steve Lacy (soprano saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Cameron Brown (bass), Makaya Ntshoko (drums)
Record date: May 6 and 8, 1978

One-Upmanship’s follow up album one year later was named Moods. It’s almost equally as great, almost…. The personnel is a true reflection of our worlds inhabitants, a United Nations in jazz with Hino from Japan, Breuer from Germany, Lacy, Waldron and Brown from the U.S.A and Ntshoko from South Africa. That diversity gives the music an extra dimension. Moods is partly filled with solo sessions, and three sextet performances. There are a few well known Mal compositions like ‘Sieg Haile’, 'A Case of Plus 4s' and the first appearance of 'Soul Eyes' by Mal as a leader.

The group parts are probably the biggest highlight of the album. It’s a killer group with experienced musicians. ‘Sieg Haile’ has always been a fantastic piece of music, in any form. But with a group like this it’s coming close to perfection. That perfection starts with Brown’s groovy bass and Ntshoko multirythmic cymbal playing and a thick bass drum that sets the beat. Lacy plays a pretty subdued solo (at least for his doing) showing some of the skills he would use in later duets with Mal. Hino’s a pretty loud player too but his solo here is thoughtful and explorative in a pretty gentle manner. He really tries to focus his playing on the rhythms provided by the rhythm section. Mal’s solo is one of great ease and a very bluesy feel. It’s just feeling, no more and no less. And just like Hino Mal’s talking to the rhythm section constantly and they react at what he’s doing.

Minoat has a bit of a Mingus feel. And Mal was definitely inspired by the great bassist, playing with him on several of his albums including the classic ‘Pithecanthropus Erectus’. It could be the score of a movie also, reminding a bit of his Impulse! from 1967 ‘Sweet Love, Tender’. Terumasa plays a very soulful solo with lot’s of extra air trough his horn. But his tone always remain powerful and very confident. Minoat is probably one of Waldron’s most accessible works from this time. The last sextet song is ‘A Case of Plus 4’s’ which is a more brooding Mal composition appearing here for the first time. In it’s second appearance it would be a duo with Lacy and be a bit more laidback. The music here is intense with Hino playing the lungs out of his body. He plays small runs of multiple notes, then returning to loud one or two note statements interacting with both Mal and Ntshoko. Lacy plays another great, relatively inside solo. Only Breuer fails to really impress me. The one who actually steals the show is Mal himself milking those same notes again. Mal is bluesy, funky and swinging all at once. And Cameron Brown is also in prime form following the funky lines from Mal’s piano. Brown had already proven himself to be a great bass player with Archie Shepp and he really fits in this group. Great solo by him too.

The solo parts are sometimes beautiful, and sometimes just okay. Anxiety is a Waldron composition which truly reflects what it’s title stands for. It’s an interesting listen yet fails to really catch me like so many other Mal compositions did. ‘Thoughtful’ is tearjerking beautiful with it’s sad feeling all trough the piece. Amazing to hear how Mal’s left and right interact with each other. The same goes for ‘Lonely’ where Mal could say a thousand things with the spare notes he uses. Again a song with a deep emotional feel. Beautiful until it slightly merges into a blues than returning to the theme again. The solo sessions are also a nice alternation with the sextet parts. Some kind of break to take a breath. “Happy” is a more up-tempo blues with a repetitive feel. It indeed has more of a happy feeling but like the opening ‘Anxiety’ it fails to stay interesting all trough the song. Absolute solo highlight is of course the beautiful version of Mal’s best known classic ‘Soul Eyes’. Made famous by the great John Coltrane, it’s very refreshing to hear the song coming out the hands of the composer. Mal treat’s his classic with respect and love and stays close to the original theme. He show’s his more classical oriented solo style here with a pretty good technique in both hands playing fluent lines of notes. Fortunately he was to record this composition more than only this time.

As I mentioned before in my ‘One-Upmanship’ review: if you do not have the German cd issue of that session, you should get Moods on vinyl. Otherwise you miss two solo parts: Thoughtful and Duquility. They probably left those two out on the ‘Moods’ cd issue because of the time but it’s really a stupid thing to do. They should have made it a double cd instead and include the full session. I own the 24bit master edition on cd from 2006. It’s great in sound quality but lacks any liner notes which is really another missed opportunity. It’s definitely the cheapest option but not the most recommended. It’s definitely worth to buy the original LP. ‘Moods’ itself is highly recommended and among his best records. Mal was really in prime form this period.