(1993) Mal Waldron/Michel Marre/Doudou Gouirand - Le Matin D'Un Fauve ***

 

With: Doudou Gouirand (alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone), Michel Marre (trumpet, bugle, euphonium), Mal Waldron (piano)
Record date: December 10 and 11, 1993

Mal, Doudou and Michel we’re friends for life and played with each other on several occasions. Their studio album ‘Space’ was the first to be put on record. This ‘Le Matin D’un Fauve was the second and also last one. It was recorded live in Tours in a small theater called ‘Petit Faucheux’ where more jazz concerts were recorded in those years. Playing with these Frenchmen is a success in the sense that is showcases another side of Mal. The music is somewhere between free improvisation, noir jazz and classical music. And really everywhere in between. Like Mal is quoted in the liner notes: ‘I change from day to day, minute to minute’. ‘A musician has to change or else he would die’. He certainly applied that to his music. One could immediately identify Mal on a 1966 record or on his last record. His trademarks really always remained the same. But the styles he played in varied enormously. Even in one year. ‘My Dear Family’, ‘Le Matin D’un Fauve’ and ‘Let’s Call This Esteem’; all recorded in the same year but they could not differ more!

This session consists of multiple suites and compositions. Some of them were written by Mal himself, while others were written by Marre or Gouirand. The first two songs have a very strong Waldronesque feeling over them. They are dark, atmospheric and the soft sounds by both Gouirand and Marre we’re well chosen and played. Again ‘Free For C.T.’ is wrongly named. Song 2 is an original that sounds a little like it. But ‘Free for C.T’ is actually track 7 which is credited as Fictions here. The following Marre composition is a bit dull and too repetitive. It lacks originality and does not contain any improvisation. The following improvisation by both horn men also misses the point a little. It get’s a little better when Mal enters with some sweet background playing. All in all the compositions by Gouirand and Marre are among the lesser ones here.

On the compositions by Mal there is more chance for Mal to show off (he’s really in excellent form here) but both Gouirand and Marre fail to make a very lasting impression. Both men do have a warm and very subtle tone but are not very distinctive in their kind. On compositions like ‘Snake Out’ that really stands out too much and the tension for what that composition is known for is almost absent here. Track 7 is Free For C.T. It remains one of Mal’s most beautiful tributes and on this version he plays without any restraints or hesitations: it’s beautiful and straight from the heart. One would wish he would have played it solo.

This music was recorded pretty well and brought out once on the French AA label. There are plenty of copies available on the internet. Interesting music but not essential. Their studio album was a little better.