(1982) In Retrospect **

 

With: Akira Miyazawa (tenor saxophone, flute), Mal Waldron (piano), Isao Suzuki (bass), Hironobu Fuzisawa (drums)
Record date: April 23, 1982

Mal did not bring a band to Japan in 1982 so the records he made there were with Japanese musicians. Isao Suzuki was an old companion of Mal playing excellent bass parts on the great Reminiscent Suite. Both the well recorded Miyazawa as the lesser known Fuzisawa were mostly active in the Japanese jazz scene. Part from the opening ‘All Alone’ this is a standard only album. But standards could be played in a very interesting way. Unfortunately that is not really the case here.

The opening with Mal’s beautiful ‘All Alone’ is probably the best of the record. Miyazawa’s solo is thoughtful and beautiful and I dig it, even though I am not a very big flute fan. With ‘Oleo’ comes the boredom unfortunately… Really what the hell is Miyazawa doing? It’s really playing blues scale after blues scale. The predictability of his solo’s throughout the album is pretty annoying. He really sounds like a saxophonist who has just picked up the horn and practices with scales and ladders. The paths on this album have been walked on so many times. Standards could be made exciting but here they are not. One could play standards in a boring way but still impress with great technical abilities or a big personality. This album lacks both of them. Suzuki sounds uninspired here too and Mal just plays his part, nothing more and nothing less. And that goes for the whole band. They just play, play and play. But it does not really lead anywhere nor does it mean anything. The best parts in the music are the more slow pieces like ‘All Alone’ and ‘I Can’t Get Started’ where Miyazawa sounds bit better in place.

‘In Retrospect’ is very, very widely available record on both vinyl and cd. I’ve got the very cheap version on the American ‘Four Star’ label. Not only cheap in money but also in packaging, it almost looks like a cd-r. Always listen for yourself but if you ask me: this is a Mal record you might wanna skip. It really sounds like a pretty boring jam session.