(1990) Spring in Prague ****

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Paulo Carduso (bass), John Betsch (drums)
Record date: February 19 & 20, 1990

At the end of ’80’s, Europe was on fire. Literally. Mal lived for 25 years in a Europe that was strictly divided in a capitalist Western Europe and a communist Eastern Bloc. Mal had played plenty of times on the other side, playing in the DDR, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. He was confronted with the Iron Curtain throughout his whole European career. The events in 1989 and 1990: the fall communism and ultimately the breakdown of the Iron Curtain made a deep impression on him. This trio album was dedicated to that new Europe as was his encounter 2 years later with alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano called: New Horizon - Dedicated to a Changing Europe. Of course the title of this trio album remembers of the Prague Spring in 1968 which unfortunately turned into a bitter cold winter for 20 more years. But this time, that spring was for good. All of the song titles refer in some way to the revolutions in Eastern Europe or the Cold War.

Mal plays with the same trio as he played with on the classic ‘No More Tears for Lady Day’. That album consisted exclusively of standards, this one contains more compositions written by Mal himself. The opening ‘Revolution’ is loosely based on Chopin’s Eturde op10-12. It swings pretty hard Mal soloing in the lower registers of the piano and Carduso walking trough the changes on his bass. The song has something of the feel of a revolution with it’s dark tones. Then comes the first standard ‘East of the Sun’ which is played in a bit of a dull way. The following ‘Let us Live’ which is dedicated to the DDR is better. It’s starts with some fiery free playing with an exceptional role for John Betsch, representing some of the anger that lived in the country those days. Then it merges smoothly in a theme that sounds a little like ‘Con Alma’. It’s something that Mal has done before: creating a new piece that is based on a jazz standard. 

The title song is just plain beautiful. A ballad with some space for Carduso to interact with Mal. Carduso really plays excellent on this recording. He’s not a very well known bassist but on every single record with Mal he really shines. The two standards are like a small breath pause for the more political motivated song ‘We Demand’ which is the most intense and free on the album. Don’t expect pure chaos but the meaning of the song is well shown trough the loud playing by the band. Mal plays some Tayloresque clusters. Betsch is all over the place yet still keeping a tight rhythm in the music while Mal is dueling with Carduso. Great ending of a pretty good album. Sad thing that 31 years after this record, countries like Hungary and Poland are on their way back to becoming an authoritarian state. It would have broken Mal's heart, I am pretty sure about that. Right now on this moment there is a Polish writer who might be imprisoned for calling the president a moron. Three years in prison for telling the truth!

The session was recorded in Germany but released in Japan by Alfa Jazz. This one was not brought out in Europe on Timeless. Like with most Japanese cd’s one has to be prepared to pay a little more (in the range of 20-30 euros). Also like with most of them Japanese releases the sound quality is sublime and the liner’s are extensive but in Japanese. This is some very fine trio music by Mal with a great trio. It does not reach the level of ‘No More Tears’ but comes pretty close here and there. If you do have the opportunity to pick one up, do not hesitate.