Record date: August 21, 1995
I mentioned the year 1995 before as the year of Mal’s 70th birthday celebration tour. That tour largely took place in Japan and Mal was joined by his whole (2!) families. Not only Hiromi, but also his ex wife Elaine joined him. And also his 2 daughters from his first marriage. One of those daughters is Mala Waldron who is the only one of Mal’s children that is really active on the jazz scene. She still performs regularly in NYC and the surrounding area. Her website is in the list of links on my blog. Just one day after Mal’s birthday he recorded a duet album with his oldest daughter called ‘He’s My Father’. It was originally released in 1996 by Tokuma and later made part of the Maturity series. It’s that disc that I own.
So what to expect of this record? Mala might be an active live singer, she has not recorded a lot of music. But I have to say: she is a fine singer. And a good piano player too. As she is a singer I expected a real vocal album but she is not singing on all of the tracks. In fact she mostly sticks to piano. She only sings on two tracks. Her piano playing reminds one of her father’s playing: it’s not technical, a bit minimalistic and repetitive in parts. The way she interacts with her fathers playing is excellent and the whole album breathes a comfortable but still interesting air. Both the jazz standard ‘My Funny Valentine’ as the Waldron original ‘Clouds’ are very meditative with deep and long chords. The soloing by both Mal as Mala is subdued and calm but very beautiful. It has this very warm atmosphere with still that dark undertone that Mal’s music is known for. No vocals on these two long outings.
Then there’s ‘Castle in The Sky’ which was written by Mala. It has more of a pop music feeling. Mala starts singing here and her voice is pleasant. And that says a lot coming from someone that generally does not like those vocals. She might not be the new Ella Fitzgerald by I am pretty sure Mal was proud of her. The whole song might be a little shoddy here and there bit I like it as it sounds very sincere. With ‘Cat and Mouse’ the whole album takes another turn. From sweet sounding poppy music into more free territory. Both Mal’s as Mala’s piano actually sound like a cat chasing a mouse. This is more experimental free improvising music. It’s interesting to hear how much Mala has been influenced by her father as the two are sometimes hard to distinguish. The whole interpretation of ‘A Night In Tunesia’ is probably the least interesting as it’s all a bit predictable. The closing title song is a thoughtful one suited perfect as a closing title for this father/daughter collaboration.
Like all of the Maturity discs this one is quite difficult to obtain. The biggest chance for a success remains websites like Buyee where you are able to buy from Japanese stores. I like it for it’s intimacy and the fact that this a collaboration with his daughter. But there’s some pretty good playing here too.
I know a man, he’s a strong man
A very complicated man
Music is his life, and how he inspires
With the power in his hands
And this man’s my father
And how I’ve watched him
From the time I was old enough to understand
He’s my father
For as long as I live
And he’ll never be replaced by any other man
He’s my father
A life on the road, he’s traveled far and wide
And as kids sometimes we’d come along
I always was amazed at how he mesmerized
With his melodies so strong
He’s my father
And it feels good to say it
When there are so many dads who do not know their own
An tough he’s far away
And we don’t talk so much
I hope he knows he’ll never have to be alone
He’s my father
No comments:
Post a Comment