Record date: November 15, 1981
A few days after the Monk tribute concert, Mal went into the Vanguard Studios in NYC to record hist last album for Enja. Well, his last until the 2001 duet with Archie Shepp 30 years later. For “What it Is’ he teamed up with some of the very best jazz artists from the American jazz scene. The great Clifford Jordan on tenor saxophone, the amazing Cecil McBee on bass and the very solid Dannie Richmond on drums.
The album consists of three compositions, 1 by Clifford Jordan and 2 by Mal Waldron. The starting ‘Charlie Parker’s Last Supper’ is probably the most straight-forward. It’s a nice blues and sounds mostly like a warming up for the rest of the album. The following ‘Hymn From the Inferno’ is much more free. It starts with Mal setting up the theme then the band joins him. On this song one could hear Clifford Jordan playing more beyond the boundaries of contemporary jazz than he usually does. Of course he was no conventional bop player anymore since making fantastic albums like ‘In The World’ and ‘Glass Bead Games’. But here he really goes wild hitting of scale after scale and even overblowing his horn. Richmond, Waldron and McBee are also really putting him in that direction. And it doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all, it all goes quite naturally. There’s also some space for one of my favorite bassists of all time: Cecil McBee. His free yet so structured playing is a perfect base for Waldron to play on. Mal Waldron’s solo is again something completely different. Instead of repetition his solo is more focused on hard clusters of sound reacting on Richmond’s awesome playing.
The closing title tune is probably the best of them all. The composition itself is very, very catchy and it it became somewhat of a Waldron standard. It had already been recorded by German drummer Klaus Weiss with a superb group including Billy Harper and Cecil Bridgewater. After Jordan playing that very badass melody in comes Mal with a stunning solo. As always he does not need a lot of notes but the ones he is using are all making sense. But it’s also very much McBee and Richmond that really make the solo for what it is. McBee is going off every single register of his instrument, really heading everywhere without losing Mal for a second. Richmond is just playing to what McBee and Waldron are doing and becomes a full part of the music instead of just someone creating a beat or rhythm. His extensive use of the bass drum really pushes the music forward. He really is one beast at the drumming kit. Not very strange he fits in so well with Mal as Don Pullen who he played with so often is also a very percussive player. His solo’s on this album really want to make you jump out of your chair and yell and cheer. The incredible interplay between the three creates climax after climax. Then finally there is one treat left: a superb solo by Jordan with his bluesy tone and awesome technique. He is a very exciting saxophonist without getting too freaky. And he clearly feels what Mal is trying to say adding up to the dark atmosphere of the composition. It’s nice to hear him getting a little outside his own comfort zone.
There are several versions available on vinyl on the web. Only one cd version was released by Enja Germany that mistakenly notes that the title song only lasts for 5 minutes. Fortunately it is almost 20 minutes! Mine was signed by Mal. Unfortunately I never met Mal nor seen him live (I was 11 when he died), it’s how I bought it. And I am pretty sure it’s really his signature as I do not see a reason to falsify it. This is one of the standout Mal records that should be in every jazz collection. The only reason for me that it doesn’t get 5 stars is the opener which is ok, but doesn’t have the same level as the two Waldron compositions. This really should have been Mal’s touring band for a while. Their interplay is like magic.
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