(1969) Nathan Davis Quartet - Jazz Concert in a Benedictine Monastery ****1/2

With: Nathan Davis (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute), Mal Waldron (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), Art Taylor (drums)
Record date: July 11, 1969

Nathan Davis, oh how I love his sound. He and Mal played regularly together and in different groups. For this live record, Nathan is the leader with an awesome group. I am a little in doubt about the recording location as the cover clearly states it was recorded in Paris at the Scholastic’s Contorum while sources like Discogs and jazzdisco.org say it was recorded in a monastery in Switzerland. The whole recording does have an echo over it like it was recorded in a large hall or a church like building. But hey these are just details that are not so important. What is important is the music on this recording: it’s just fantastic. (Small addition: the music was recorded at the concert hall of the Schola Cantorum in Paris. That concert hall is a former church of Benedictines. Nathan Davis taught jazz history and improvisation there. Information provided by user Corto Maltese on the Organissimo jazz forums)

Nathan Davis pretty much continued where he had left with his 1967 record ‘Rules of Freedom’. He is experimenting with eastern scales, absorbing influences from Coltrane and more free players but his playing style remains very, very bluesy. In fact the opening ‘Frogg’ In’ is so bluesy it almost sounds dirty. Davis plays with this very thick tenor sound, almost reminding of the R&B players from the 1940’s. But his technique is really more in the 1960’s. And while Coltrane’s influence is evident (on the whole record) Davis really has one unique sound that is immediately recognizable. ‘Song For Agnes’ is a tearjerking beautiful ballad with Davis on soprano saxophone. It really is more a classical composition (written by Elias Gistelinck) and shows Davis’ most sensitive sound. The subpar sound quality even gives it an extra dimension as his soprano sounds like it’s crying. This is the first opportunity for Mal to shine and he grabs the opportunity. This was the period he was really developing that definitive sound. He sounds mature and confident and his solo is excellent. Same goes again for the great and underrated Jimmy Woode. The freedom he sets with his loose yet so structured bass playing gives the whole band a different sound.

‘Uschimaus’ has this very airy feel over it with Davis on flute. It feels warm, optimistic and joyful. Taylor’s waltzing drums attribute to that kind of feeling. He plays an excellent solo here. The B side opens with a beautiful straightforward ballad written by Davis. It again shows Waldron in excellent form. It’s the way he plays these ballads. Sometimes sticking to chords only but playing with timing and phrasing. The last composition is another waltz, which could have been written by Mal (but was written by Freddie Hubbard). It’s another lovely outing with some excellent soprano playing by Davis. It’s another showcase of his excellent technique but fortunately he was more than just that. You could hear his soul trough the whole composition.

Unfortunately this LP is not easy to obtain, at least not for a reasonable price. I paid a 130 dollars for it, which is the largest amount I spent on a single LP. But I had to have this for both Waldron and Davis. I haven’t regretted it for a moment but I could understand one must really dig this music before one actually wants to buy it. Some of the music is on Youtube so you have to listen for yourself. I would call this essential stuff for both Waldron as Davis fans. The sound quality is pretty bad but the music is incredibly good you forget about that pretty soon. And on the plus side: every musician is pretty forward in the mix.

(1968) Benny Bailey Sextet - Soul Eyes: Jazz Live at the Domicile ****

 

With: Benny Bailey (trumpet), Nathan Davis (tenor saxophone, flute), Mal Waldron (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), Makaya Ntshoko (drums), Charly Campbell (congas on track 2 and 3)
Record date: January 11, 1968

Paris is always said to be the creative centre of American musicians that resided in Europe. Of course that is true but Munich was also a pretty good place to be if you wanted to see some of the American top jazz musicians. Both Waldron and Bailey lived there, among others. And the Domicile was the place where they played so many nights in different settings. A bit like the ‘Village Vanguard’ of the Bavarian capital. Some very, very good music was recorded here: concerts by Charles Tolliver, Pepper Adams, Mal’s own Black Glory of course and this very record. Mal is not the only one that puts a smile on my face here. I have a real soft spot for both Jimmy Woode and Nathan Davis. Combining those names must lead to some exciting music.

Benny Bailey was a pretty busy man during his lifetime. His recording career started mostly in the bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton. He really remained a bopper for the rest of his life. This record is in that style: nice uptempo hard swinging hardbop. But with such talented musicians that always leads to advanced music anyway. This is one very exciting jam session.

The first composition ‘Prompt’ is really an example of some of that fine and excellent bop. Most impressive are both the solo’s of Davis and Waldron. Davis is on tenor here and boy I just love that man’s sound. There’s a little Prez, a little Dexter Gordon but mostly a whole lot of Nathan Davis there. A powerful and advanced player who shines on every reed instrument he plays. His sound is warm, bluesy and just feels like a blanket on a cold day. His flute playing on Soul Eyes is also excellent but I would have loved to hear him on soprano here. With Davis sticking to flute the whole composition is pushed into more traditional territories while this group could have made something more interesting out of it.

The big excitement comes with Jimmy Woode’s composition: Ruts, Grooves. Graves and Dimensions. This is music that expands a little further than bop and this is where every musician is at it’s best. Bailey leaves his comfort zone here and plays a pretty advanced solo. He leaves the more traditional jazz patterns behind. Mal is lovely here too and one can hear he is truly developing his definitive sound here. He fares very well by this great modal composition by the hands of Jimmy Woode. He’s starting to sound more and more like the Mal we know with his hard hitting left hand, repetitive but swinging playing and overall very bluesy sound. Nathan is on tenor again and of course he was the very musician here that was so open to ‘the new thing’. His playing is influenced by it in a very positive way for he does not lose his own identity for a second. 12 minutes of very exciting music.

The final composition ‘Mid-Evil Dance’ was written by Nathan Davis. This was one group I would love to have seen, Davis’ robust tenor sounds fit so well with Mal’s deep chords and Woode’s free yet swinging bass playing. He could fit into a free playing group, but still swings as hard as Coleman Hawkins. What a sound! Bailey really loses himself here screaming trough his horn and Mal: he just swings like a mad man seeking constant interaction with Woode.

This is some very exciting music from the ’60’s European live jazz scene. The people that were in the Domicile that night were very lucky. It’s one of the more difficult to find MPS records. Well it’s not very difficult to find a copy, it’s mostly just that the copies are pretty expensive. Ive got the 1998 Japanese cd version myself. Can’t say I really like the sound, but that must be the recording itself for most Japanese MPS records mostly sound excellent. Highly recommended for Waldron fans, Davis fans and also Bailey fans. And a special shout out to Jimmy Woody: he was one hell of a bassist!

(1967) Embryo - For Eva ****

 

With: Christian Burchard (vibes) Mal Waldron (piano on 3-5, 8-9), Dieter Gewissler (bass #1,2,5,6) Lothar Meid (bass #3,4,5) Reinhard Knieper (bass #8 & 9), Dieter Serfas (drums)
Record date: somewhere in 1967

This really was one of the most pleasant discoveries I made in my quest for collecting all of Mal Waldron’s records. To be honest: I really kept this one as one of my last purchases for I did not expected much of it. I mostly bought it to complete the collection. I was pretty wrong about it for there is some excellent music on this disc.

Mal’s affiliation with Embryo was a life long one and that came mostly trough his friendship with vibist Christian Burchard. Burchard already lived in Munich in 1966 and played with some of the American jazz residents who lived there or stayed there for a long time. The southern German city had a pretty lively jazz scene with residents like Pony Pointdexter, Carmell Jones, Benny Bailey and later of course: Mal Waldron. At one night Mal was playing at the Domicile club and Burchard joined in. From that moment they were to become livelong friends. I am not sure if the artist on the cover really should have been Embryo as Burchard states in the liner notes that the German krautrock group was formed later. But this definitely was it’s birth. As Burchard stated: ‘This is an example how we sounded before the Embryo project was founded’. The music is more jazz oriented and rock influences are nearly absent. Mal did not record a lot of stuff in 1967 but he sure was not inactive. He was already gigging all across Europe and mostly in Germany.

Mal doesn’t play on all of the songs. The first two compositions are without him but are both very interesting. ‘Sugar Lump’ is a very good tribute to one of jazz forgotten vibraphone wonders: Walt Dickerson. It breathes the same air as his music and his influence is evident on Burchard’s playing. The music has some kind of free atmosphere as both bassist Gewissler and drummer Serfas are moving away from more traditional jazz patterns. They sound pretty advanced to me and are surprisingly original in their sound. Burchard himself utilizes the given space in an excellent way interacting with both his band mates and not losing himself in a technical show off.

Unfortunately the sound quality of the Waldron selections is not as good as the first two songs. But this is a fascinating look into the music Mal made in those years. Just like his 1966 records you could hear he’s really trying to create his own sound experimenting with loops, repetition and percussive playing. He’s not yet the pianist he was to become in the years after but you could really hear those roots here. Also there’s a very first recording of his ‘Blood and Guts’ composition: it’s titled Anka’s Trance here. It’s the only track that does not really work out that well as it sounds there are some miscommunications in the group. The other tracks are excellent. Some have a more traditional jazz sound but it’s mostly a little more advanced than that. Mal listened a lot to what was going on at the American freejazz scéne at the time. And although his music never became that free, he was seriously influenced by it. He swings insanely hard on ‘Bud Study’, a composition that is very Waldronesque but has this Bud Powell feeling over it. He show’s his more sentimental side on ‘For Bob’ and revisits his classic ‘Fire Waltz’ for the first time.

Disconforme is one of those public domain labels. I really dislike them for they do not pay any royalties to the one’s who the music belong to. But also they push the regular labels out of business with their subpar but cheap products. As this disc was compiled by Christian Burchard himself (he also wrote the liner notes) I could live with it. The liner’s and photographs are very nice so it’s really worth having. The sound quality differs really by session. Some of them are surprisingly good but track 3,4 and 5 do not sound so good. But it’s definitely acceptable. I could imagine hardcore ‘Embryo’ lovers will not be impressed by the music presented here. But for those interested in Burchard’s more jazzy side, this is interesting stuff!

(1966) Nada Jovic & Dusko Goykovich Quintet - Take Me In Your Arms *

With: Nada Jovic (vocals), Dusko Goykovich (trumpet), Eddie Busnello (alto saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Peter Trunk (bass), Cees See (drums)
Record date: September, 1966

Singer, performer and dancer Nada Jovic was born in Belgrade in the 1930’s. After receiving a scholarship she went to Vienna where she became an allround performer. She could dance and sing. In the 1950’s she moved again, this time to Canada where she supposedly still lives. Nada wrote the music in New York City and went to Cologne to record it. When Mal and Goykovich lived in Cologne they teamed up regularly together and played gigs everywhere in the city. They were a pretty logical choice for Jovic to record with.

This music is….. just plain awful. It really sounds like the music from some burlesque show in the 1930’s for the enjoyment of some horny army men but it has not a lot to do with music in a creative sense. It’s mostly suited for in a theater or cabaret and there is zero space for any of the musicians to create something interesting. Even Goykovich’s arrangements sound old fashioned and pretty lame. Jovic’ voice then… well she could hold a note let’s say that. But it does not sound very nice. There is no feeling, timbre or any creativity. Only a pretty thick accent. Fortunately with only 23 minutes of playing time all goes by pretty fast. And that really is for the better.

British label Cosmic Sounds released this posthumously. In the liner notes they state that Jovic had recorded quite some music but ‘for some strange reason’ nothing of it was ever released. Well, I think I know why. This is a record you could easily skip without missing a thing.

 

(1966) Dusko Goykovich - Swinging Macedonia ***1/2

 

With: Dusko Goykovich (trumpet, flugelhorn), Nathan Davis (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone), Eddie Busnello (alto saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Peter Trunk (bass), Cees See (drums)
Record date: August 30 & 31, 1966

1966 was the year of Mal’s slow comeback to the jazz scéne in Europe. He recorded his first two albums as a leader, both in Italy before moving to Germany. In Germany he first lived in the city of Cologne before eventually settling in Munich for more than 20 years. In Cologne, Mal lived near the Yugoslavian trumpeter Dusko Goykovich and he gigged regularly with him. Goykovich was born in the town of Jajce which is located in current Bosnia Herzegovina. Those were the years of Tito, communism, the iron curtain and Yugoslavia’s no affiliation politics. There might have been a big barrier in Europe in those years but jazz really is an international language and there was a lively jazz scene in Yugoslavia.

For this album Dusko is not only accompanied by Waldron but also by the excellent and highly underrated multi reedist Nathan Davis (I love that guy). The other guys were all well established names in the European jazz scene all appearing on countless of European jazz cd’s. Peter Trunk was in Hans Koller’s band for a while and Cees See appeared more than once next to Waldron. They are all very solid players, although I find Busnello a little boring.

This is some very interesting music for the period it was recorded in, the combination of names in personnel but also the repertoire played. The Eastern European influence in pretty evident in some of the compositions and there’s a slight hint of some fine gipsy jazz here and there. The results are sometimes pretty successful. The opening Macedonia and also the Fertility dance sound exotic, creative and full of power. An excellent blend of different musical cultures. Also Mal’s percussive style fits in perfectly. ‘Saga Se Karame’ truly sounds amazing with a fantastic soprano solo by Davis. This was really some of the more advanced music with plenty of space for both See and Trunk to come out of their comfort zones. But on the more contemporary jazz compositions all the energy fades away and that is very unfortunate. Songs like ‘The Gypsy’ and ‘Old Fisherman’s Daughter’ or ‘Bem-Basha’ miss that creative spark and are really one out of a dozen of jazz records. No bad playing but just not as interesting as those more up tempo compositions with that Eastern feeling.

Dusko really is an excellent player with great technical skills. The influence by Miles is a little to big here and there (especially when he is playing the muted trumpet) but he has enough power to really make a statement. He also had fine compositional skills as most of these originals by him prove. Both Davis and Waldron are in excellent form but sounded better on their own records from those years. They mostly shine on the more original compositions where they have more space to show off their own creative forces. The rhythm section plays excellent but is mostly in the background.

This was originally released on Phillips, Columbia and Odeon. Those originals are worth quite some money. The Enja reissues are a better buying option. This record really has two faces: the compositions where the Eastern influences are more dominant are very interesting. The more contemporary jazz compositions are a little boring and feel like they are unnecessary breaks in mostly creative music.

(1969) Free at Last ****1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Isla Eckinger (bass), Clarence Becton (drums)
Record date: 25 November, 1969

Yeah, there it is! Mal’s first real classic recording, probably since his release of ‘The Quest’. I don’t know if sales were ever big enough to mark a Waldron album as a classic, but ‘Free at Last’ is definitely one of the better known records he made. It’s also the first since 1963 on a major label. But that major label, ECM, was just starting up in that year 1969. Free At Last was in fact the first release by the label in 1970. Mal never recorded for the label again after this one record. Although 'Spanish Bitch' was probably meant to be released on it.

It’s a great chance to hear the transition he made in great audio quality, playing with two not very well known but highly talented musicians. And that was something Mal has done quite a few times: he always surrounds himself with gifted musicians, sometimes well known but also quite a lot of time more obscure. Swiss born bassist Isla Eckinger has played with tons of musicians and made multiple appearances next to Waldron: both in the studio as in live gigs. He’s a bassist that fits perfectly with Mal’s rhythmic and percussive playing, dancing around his ideas, just like Jimmy Woode and Reggie Workman were able too. Eckinger gets plenty of space to show his skills on this record and he definitely deserves that space. Becton is a drummer who has appeared next to free jazz players like Burton Greene and Michael White, but also played more in the tradition with Benny Bailey and Dusko Goykovich. As Free At Last is also balancing between bop and the more free music he fits in perfectly, creating a solid base for this highly rhythmic music.

Opener ‘Rat Now’ is a classic Mal Waldron composition with it’s hard touch in the lower registers and the reaction with the right hand on that theme. It’s clear that Mal was inspired by the free jazz movement hearing tracks like these but this music is still quite structured. As Mal states himself in the liner notes: ‘free jazz to me does not mean anarchy or disorganized sound. In my vocabulary disorganized sound still means noise’. And that is perhaps what makes Mal such a great musician. He was able to look further, be innovative, create a whole new sound without losing himself in the urge to be innovative. The music he recorded on this record is truly a trademark for his style. It’s the first record where you could hear some of his definitive sound, although his development was still to continue.

Again, Mal plays mostly his own typical compositions. The uptempo, highly percussive Rat Now and Rock My Soul could be considered Mal classics although unfortunately most of these songs never appeared again on his records. This time there’s also a jazz standard: ‘Willow Weep for Me’ which is treated with warmth and has a very smooth feel overall. The album is well balanced trough-out with more tensed, up-tempo songs and beautiful ballads. And as with all of Mal’s music: this is pure emotional music, right from the heart, feeling only. This is Mal at his very best.

ECM is known for a certain sound, some like it and some don’t. I personally mostly appreciate it. But that typical ECM sound in not really yet hearable here on this album. As with most ECM albums, the sound quality is excellent. I own the Japanese SHM release of 2017 which is terrific. But this album has been reissued with bonus tracks on vinyl in 2019. The bonus tracks are definitely worth it to buy that reissue. If you don’t own this record yet, get it as soon as possible!

(1969) Set Me Free ****

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Barre Phillips (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)
Recorded on: October, 1969

Just one month before recording his classic ‘Free at Last’, Mal went into the studios to record ‘Set me Free’ in Paris. The session was released for the first time by the British Affinity label in 1984 so it came out 14 years later than the ECM record. Not to say it’s equally great (it’s not) but this record really hints in that direction. Where ‘Ursula’ was giving a slight hint of what was too come, ‘Set Me Free’ is a very big one. It might have something to do with the other band members. After all, Barre Phillips is an outstanding bassist from the UK who is very much at ease with the more free forms of jazz. And that is something that is immediately recognizable on the more free songs like the title song which is pretty wild for Mal’s standards. Also, he seeks constant interaction with the pianist. Something the bassists on ‘Ursula’ and ‘Mal Waldron Trio’ were less capable of. Anyway Philips is doing a great job, but so is legend Philly Joe! A great drummer from the bop tradition, Philly Joe was always open too new ideas. During these years he also played with the likes of Archie Shepp and even Frank Wright. He doesn’t sound any bit out of place here. He sounds like classic Philly Joe, swinging hard, hitting the cymbals and providing a solid base for Waldron to stretch out on. He goes bezerk on the title song and it sounds great. He’s killing it on Attila the Hun. There’s plenty of solo space for him!

The whole band sounds exciting on all of the tracks and there is enough balance throughout. Mal really starts to mature here and develop his definitive sound. He plays like a maniac on the title song and Attila the Hun with those hard hits he is known for. But sounds equally gentle on a track like Yeah which is just one of so many beautiful Mal ballads. Again the album is full of Mal originals. He had a natural gift for composing music and especially in these years he hardly played any standards. You don’t miss them anyway as his own music is fascinating enough.

This is a great Mal record and interesting too listen to with in mind ‘Free at Last’ was to be recorded only a month later. Unfortunately the stuff was recorded and released by the BYG/Charly/Affinity group. Labels that are not really known for it’s great sound quality nor for paying musicians what they deserved…. The sound is pretty cold on my LP version, Mal’s piano sounds almost like an electric one at times and Phillips is too far out in the mix on some of the tracks. Perhaps the Japanese CD version on Jimco records is better but I do not have any experience with that one and it’s rare and pricy unfortunately. But if you find the LP version for the prices it is available for on the web, do not hesitate. This record is recommended!

(1969) Ursula ***1/2

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Patrice Caratini (bass), Franco Manzecchi (drums) 

Record date: 3th of June, 1969

1969 would become a turning point in Mal’s career. It was the year of his first real masterpiece since 1964: ‘Free at Last’. But before recording that album late 1969 in Germany he was to record two more albums. The first of those was ‘Ursula’, which was released on the sparsely documented French ‘Musica’ label.

Mal plays with a European trio here, just like on the other records from that same year. French bassist Patrice Caratini would join him later on the great ‘Blood and Guts’ live recording one year later. The theme song from that very record makes it’s first appearance here. Caratini resided in Paris where he played mostly with French musicians but also sometimes visiting Americans like Mal, Dizzy Reece and Steve Grossman. Manzecchi is an Italian born drummer who lived in Paris and was a much in demand jazz drummer for live gigs. He also made records with Chet Baker and Eric Dolphy.

Ursula starts a bit like a very standard jazz recording. Mal plays a bit, Caratini and Manzecchi follow... The ballad Ursula is nice and gentle, but the real kick off comes with Mal’s classic Blood and Guts. This is such a great composition. The hunting and nervous theme, with Mal’s right hand hunting down the keys and the tight breaks: it’s Mal at his best. Both Caratini and Manzecchi have a first chance to stretch out here and they do greatly. Manzecchi goes wild in his solo at the end! Flipping over to side B the band holds on to that energy and there seems to be more interaction between the three. Again there’s some nice soloing by Caratini. Then there are also some flirtations with free jazz on the track ‘Les Parents Terribles’ (great title), but the other guys don’t sound at ease doing this kinda stuff. As a whole side B is a bit stronger and more exciting than A but ‘Blood and Guts’ remain the outstanding track.

All in all this is a good record but not essential. But it does give the ‘shape to come’ later that year recording his classic Free at Last. On Ursula Mal is stretching out more than on the earlier sides and he’s clearly more inspired by the ‘new music’ or free jazz movement. The extensive use of dissonant notes is also more prominent here. This is the first record where you can here him actually including those ingredients in his own music. So it is an essential record following Mal’s developments through the years.

(1967) Sweet Love, Bitter ***

With: Dave Burns (trumpet), George Coleman (alto saxophone), Charles Davis (tenor saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), George Duvivier (bass), Alfred Dreares (drums)
Record date: March 23, 1967 (officially, but probably in 1965)

In 1967, Mal Waldron went into the studio to make his only recording for the famous Impulse! label. It’s a score for the movie “Sweet Love, Bitter”. A movie about a jazz musician that gets involved with drugs and booze, that eventually causes his downfall. When Herb Danska (the filmmaker) was thinking about who would be able to make a fitting soundtrack, he immediately thought of Mal Waldron. He was looking for a soundtrack that was having that dark and emotional feel, and what better choice would be Mal Waldron, who already had composed music for films before.

And that’s really what this is: a score for a movie. Nothing more, nothing less. That means the music is secondary to the movie. And that is something you can hear. Mal plays with a pretty great band here, but most of the music is composition only and there are not a lot of possibilites for any of the musicians to stretch out. The sparse solo’s that are played are ok, but the songs are very short, especially for jazz song. George Coleman is making an appearance on alto, while better know for his tenor playing. He has a couple of chances to solo, and he sounds pretty good. His huge vibrato make me think a bit of the classic alto players like Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter. Charles Davis is playing the tenor. He mostly play that modest background role, and here it’s not really different. Mal himself stays mostly in the background. The best song of the record is the opener ‘Lament for a Loser’: a moody Waldron original loosely based on his classic ‘Left Alone’. Coleman is in fine form here.

Impulse! never reissued the music on cd in Europe or the USA. Probably for the reasons I mentioned above. This is fine music but not more than that and not a very good chance to hear Mal’s developments. There are two versions on cd released in Japan only. Thank god the Japanese loved Mal so much: thanks to that there are a lot of reissues available from that country. Mostly in beautiful quality. I’ve got the 1972 Impulse! gatefold reissue on vinyl myself. Thin vinyl but fine quality.

It’s quite unlikely this music was recorded in 1967 as an attentive Organissimo board member noticed. The movie debuted in January 1967 so its a bit unlikely the music was recorded 2 months later. Also in the book ‘Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with 40 Jazz Musicans’ Mal himself says he returned to the US in 1965 to record the score.

(1966) Mal Waldron Trio ***1/2

 

Recording date: 30 and 31 May 1966
With: Mal Waldron (piano), Giovanni Tommaso (bass), Pepito Pignatelli (drums)

1966 seems to be the year of the definitive comeback of Mal after his infamous breakdown. For his second record date that year in Italy, Mal teams up with two Italian musicians: bassist Giovanni Tommaso and drummer Pepito Pignatelli. The latter seems to be fairly unknown and did not make many appearances after this recording. Tommaso is better known and played with the likes of Barney Kessel, Lee Konitz, Joe Albany and more Americans visiting Italy trough the years. He was mostly active within the Italian jazz scene itself.

About the music then. Mal seems to do one step back from his ‘All Alone’ record for GTA earlier that year. He sounds more like the Mal before 1963 and there’s a slight hint of Bud Powell here and there. His playing is quite relaxed and not out there. He’s clearly trying to find himself on these recordings in these years. Perhaps his companions were holding him back a bit but I would not dare to state that.

Overall the playing is nice and it’s lovely to listen too. Mal’s repetitive solo sound like he’s at ease doing what he’s doing. The atmosphere of his more dark and moody originals is already sounding on songs like Rosa and for Bob. Other’s like the starter Steady Bread or Maroc are heavily in the jazz tradition, but do have that Mal feeling and air. And on Theme de Coreurs he actually start showing what was about to come but misses the back by say a Jimmy Woode or Isla Eckinger. The repetitiveness in his compositions was one of the things that remained after his breakdown. Tomasso’s bass playing is good throughout an Pignatelli’s drum playing is supportive (yet not very shocking).

About the record itself: it was issued in 1966 by the Italian Karim label which went defunct that very year. The original issue seems to be very rare. According to the Discogs statistics there are 10 people who may praise themselves lucky with that original issue and the only one sold went for 200 euros. I myself got the seriE.WOC issue from 2014. seriE.WOC is a legit reissue label from Italy and they did a pretty good job. They produced an exact replica of the original including the funny gatefold style cover. The sound quality is what one might expect from a jazz record that was recorded in Italy during those days by a minor label. It is not great but definitely not bad either. Liner’s are in Italian and unfortunately that’s not my first language so not a lot of background info by me (sorry for that).

Not the most exciting and thrilling Mal record but essential if one wants to hear his early development after his breakdown into what he was to become in the late ’60’s and early 70’s.

(1966) All Alone ****

 

With: Mal Waldron (solo piano)
Record Date: March 1, 1966

So this is it: Mal’s first recording after the infamous mental breakdown. According to jazzdisco.org, Nuits de la Negritude was recorded in 1964, no exact date known. So that might have been the first one, but the information on that LP clearly state it was recorded in 1963 and Mal does sound like the old Mal known for the works on Prestige and New Jazz. But still, that very album has one very important link with this 1966 album: the title song ‘All Alone’, one of Mal’s better known compositions and one of his most emotional statements, was already on that record under the name ‘Quiet Temples’. It was used for the French movie: Trois Chambres a Manhattan. Mal has composed and recorded more music for movies, like Dizzy’s ‘The Cool World’ and under his own name: ‘Sweet Love, Bitter’.

After his mental breakdown, Mal left the USA for Europe. Like many other African-American musicians, he was disillusioned by the lack of respect and pay he got in his homeland. And like so many other American jazz artists, Europe was like the promised land. He settled in Bologna, Italy for a while before moving to Munich, Germany permanently. 1966 was the year he was living in Bologna and recorded multiple albums in that country. He also made a European tour with Yugoslavian trumpeter Dusko Goykovich and singer Nada Jovic.

This very first record was recorded in Milano, Italy. It’s an important recording, not only for the fact that it was his first after his breakdown, but also because there’s a lot to hear that came back in the later Mal Waldron. Mal relearned his skills by listening to his own old records but the Mal you hear right here, is different. He starts using the repetitive tones, the dark and moody left hand is already hearable in some of the songs and so is that dark energy his music has. The opener ‘All Alone’ is almost like a classical composition. It’s one of his most beautiful compositions and fortunately he recorded it more than only this time. The music is deeply emotional and lyrical. It does not contain a lot of improvisation and makes a beautiful opener. Songs like Due Torri, A View of S. Luca and Three for Cicci are inspired on his stay in Bologna. Mal clearly was inspired by some of the more known jazz compositions: Blue Summer smells a bit like Miles’ All Blues and the intro of If You Think I’m Licked reminds one of Brubeck’s Take Five. Yet this is something very different. This composition reminds of later recordings by him like Blood & Guts that also has that hunted en brooding feeling.

What makes this record also special, and what makes Mal special as well: he does not sound like any other jazz pianist. Sure there’s a hint of Monk and Powell, some of the lyricism one finds with the music of Debussy of Satie but Mal was one very unique pianist. He already is, back in 1966. This solo record exposes that unique character of his work. Mal is not a pianist who tries to play too many notes, he doesn’t surprise you with outstanding technique but with how simplicity still manage to make a very lasting impression. But also, this was clearly a try out for Mal. Part from ‘All Alone’ and ‘Waltz of the Oblivious’ (on Sweet Love, Bitter as Della’s Dream) he never recorded these compositions again.

The original of the album, from Italy on GTA, is pretty rare and expensive. The following Japanese issues on Globe are better available. Don’t know how those sound, but mostly you could buy records from Japan from these days with confidence. I have got the 1997 issue on cd myself. That one sounds pretty good.