(1996) Maturity 5: Elusiveness of Mt. Fuji ***1/2

With: Mal Waldron (piano)
Record date: July 4, 1996

The final recording of these series is a solo effort by Mal himself. It was released first as ‘Maturity’ which makes it a little confusing as this was not the first part of the later series that were also called Maturity. The 2003 issue was actually made the closing part: number 5. It was called for the famous Japanese volcano near the city of Tokyo that makes a lasting impression on every visitor: Mt. Fuji. The repertoire consists mostly of standards only except for Mal’s own original: The Seagulls of Kristiansund. Just like some other records in Japan, this was recorded in a theater but without an audience.

This is in no way an essential Mal Waldron record. All of the music goes by in a very relaxed tempo and atmosphere. Mal takes his time and space to work out everything nicely. The music is basic, yet detailed. It will not blow you off your feet and is in no way comparable to some of the solo records he made in the ’70’s. But its all very nice. Mal really sounds mature here and his sound is definite. He sounds like he has done everything already a thousand times and just goes back to the basic principles of his own style and playing. None of the standards is treated in a very creative way, but they surely come immediately recognizable out of Mal’s hands. And between the straight ahead lines he is playing are plenty of details that keeps the music interesting. The overall calmness in his playing gives this whole record a very meditative feeling. It’s an excellent pick for a late evening after a hard day’s work. Nice detail: the second version of Seagull's is accompanied by Mal's voice who is saying the lyrics. It really adds to the intimate feeling of the record. And Mal has a very warm and deep voice. He once stated that he wrote music with words in his mind.

And yes of course this 5th volume of the series is hard to find, and so is the original 1997 release which isn’t even on Discogs. I could imagine no one wants to pay 60 euros for a record like this. I paid around 30 for mine. Though it’s not essential, I still love it. And the sound is just amazing. It’s like your in Mal’s Steinway.