(1987) The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil *****

 

With: Steve Lacy (soprano saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), Eddie Moore (drums)
Record date: August 28 & 29, 1987

Back in the USA, Mal was to perform at Sweet Basil during the Greenwich Village Jazz Festival. As the cover states correctly he really performed with a ‘Super Quartet’. He teams up with his life long companion Steve Lacy on soprano, but this time not in a duo setting. On bass is the incredible Reggie Workman and on drums we’ve got Eddie Moore who soon would be a regular performer in Mal’s groups. It resulted in one of the most intense and best recordings that Mal made in the ’80’s.

The compositional choices are great and make a lot sense. It’s 2x Monk and 2x Waldron. It starts off with ‘What it Is’ , a typical Waldron composition that fits Lacy very well too. With it’s dark funky loop it swings hard and remind’s a bit of Monk’s compositions. Lacy starts with an excellent solo still staying pretty much inside but exploring every single piece of space that’s to be found. He’s haunted by a dark playing Mal Waldron, a grooving Reggie Workman and a tight Eddie Moore. Though ‘Evidence’ was composed by Monk it sounds like a composition that is pretty much in the same vein as ‘What it Is’. And it has to be said again: nobody interprets Monk like Waldron and Lacy do, not as a duo but also not in a group form with such an excellent rhythm section. They got that same feeling for dissonant playing, humor, repetition and playfulness.

Side B is equally great or perhaps even better than side A. It starts with the Waldron classic ‘Snake Out’. Lacy and Waldron performed it a zillion times but if I had to pick a version it would probably be this one. It’s Reggie Workman’s berserk bass playing here that adds another great dimension. Lacy is all over the place here. He starts pretty tame but gets wilder and wilder. He is squealing, growling and screaming. Then there’s Mal with a great and long solo playing around the theme, moving away from the theme and moving closer towards it. His interplay with Workman is almost like telepathy. But one must also not forget Eddie Moore who really is the backbone of the band. Solid as a rock he forces the other band members to give everything they can. But also playing an impressive solo with not much morethan one cymbal and his bass drum. After all that primitive energy the closing ‘Let’s Call This’ is more than welcome. It’s far from boring but a little more gentle.

The music was brought out in 4 different versions from Japan, Germany and the USA on three different labels. The original Japanese ‘Paddle Wheel’ vinyl sounds pretty good and there are plenty copies to be found in online stores. What really surprises me is that for example on RYM, only three people have voted for this record. I expected this record to be well known for it’s personnel and availability. I also wonder if there’s more music recorded that is not on this release and still on the vaults somewhere. Four songs in two days is very little. More music must have been played and recorded…. Who knows. If you do not know these sessions yet get it as fast as you can in any format. This is great music!