(1981) Johnny Dyani/Mal Waldron - Some Jive Ass Boer ****

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Johnny Dyani (bass, voice, piano on track 3), Pablo Sauvage (percussion on track 3)
Record date: April 14, 1981

Yeah, two of my all time favorite musicians working together on their first recording together. Of course I know about the record in Italy 2 years before but that session never was released in a proper and legal way. The unofficial release of that concert is pretty shitty, not legal and the guys were so stupid to include only half the concert. Strange enough, people are prepared to pay lots of money for such a subpar product. ‘Some Jive Ass Boer’ on the other hand is legit, a full concert with some interesting music (though the music on that Italian concert is a little better…)

Johnny Dyani… A South-African god on bass who's deep and emotional bass playing really fits with Mal’s piano playing. The opening ‘Safari’ is a good introduction for this pretty long recording. A bluesy theme with Dyani jamming on his bass. Nice to hear he follow’s Mal’s percussive way of playing. The following ‘African Cake Walk’ has repetitive and catchy theme after both Mal and Dyani go into improvised territories. Dyani does not only play notes or rhythms on his bass but uses his instrument to produce different sounds just like Lacy does on a soprano sax. This is highly improvised music on a pretty straightforward blues theme.

On Makulu-Kalahari Dyani starts singing in a traditional African way. And he could do that just fine. He did it before on the amazing duo albums with Abdullah Ibrahim. He has a gentle voice and it really ads up to the African feel of the album. And it should have that feel looking at the great album title! Then Dyani starts playing piano. Not highly talented for it he sure can play. He starts playing a very catchy modal that reminds most of his own composition ‘Lonely Flower in the Village’ from the great Song for Biko album. His playing is mostly expressive and less technical.

On the next song the music is back in the intimate duet form as it started. Both of the musicians are highly expressive and percussive artists so they blend very well together. Dyani’s bass playing is with so much feeling it really gets Mal’s piano playing to a higher level. And trough the music, there is a bit of anger you could feel from their fingers. What I miss sometimes is a more afro-centric feel. Especially in a song like ‘Blues for Mandela’: that song should at least contain a little bit of Africa. That is the reason why, despite I like this record very much, still prefer Dyani’s duo’s with Abdullah Ibrahim.

The music was released in 2001, some 20 years after it’s initial recording. It was put out on ‘Jazz Unite’ which really is just a sub label for Futura/Marge. That means it’s a digipack with excellent sound but not a lot of extra info. There are no liners or whatsoever. A pity cause there is enough to tell about these special musicians and music. There is a photo copy of a note left by Dyani. In it he thanks Mal and expresses his anger on the whole apartheid situation in his homeland and he’s critical of black American musicians that visit South Africa and play there for an audience. His anger is sincere, just like his bass playing. Oh and very nice artwork by the way: beautiful cover. This is a great recording and recommended for both Dyani and Waldron fans.

(1970) The Opening ****1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (solo piano)
Record date: November 19th, 1970

In November 1970, Mal returned to the American Center for Students and Arts and gave another concert for a small crowd. The concert was recorded again by the French Futura label.

This is the very first Mal solo record where he just only hits the right notes. Its dark, moody, angry, gentle and very intimate. Where ‘Tokyo Reverie’ did not really go anywhere, and All Alone was just a beautiful starting point, The Opening has this almost indescribable dark atmosphere. Music to listen to, when you’re alone in a dark room with nothing else on your mind. And also the first solo effort where the influence of French composers like Satie or Debussy is really recognizable for the first time.

The opening ‘Right On’ is a waltz like theme. Mal had a fascination for that waltz rhythm and you could hear it in a lot of his originals. It was used as an opening theme for the French movie: ‘Georges Qui’? The movie is about the French (woman) writer and socials George Sand. The following ‘Of Panthers and Pigs’ is one of the highlights of the album. Of course, Free at Last was already referring to the civil rights movement earlier, but this album has more references to that movement and period. Of course the song is about the battle between the Black Panthers and the police forces in those days. The song expresses lots of emotions but sadness and anger are the most prominent. You could feel Mal’s emotions run trough the keys into the piano. The racist atmosphere was one of the reasons for Mal to leave the US for Europe. Both ‘Cry Out’ and ‘Die Fludel’ are fascinating compositions playing with timing, tempo and showing classical influences all trough. Listening to it on headphones makes you vanish into the music and forgetting you are actually on earth. The closing song is another interesting one: ‘Sieg Haile’. It was of course no reference to WWII, but a statement of honor for Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Another notice of black consciousness in Mal’s music. The composition would be recorded two more times after on the both fantastic albums: ‘Black Glory’ and ‘Moods’. It’s a fascinating composition with clear influences from march music and a beautiful floating and dreamy follow up theme.

‘The Opening’ is widely available on vinyl and also on cd. I’ve got the 2016 reissue on CD. Again a digipack with no liners whatsoever. Up till now, liner notes are in Italian, Japanese or non existent. Not very to easy to find yourself some background information of Mal in these years. Audio quality is slightly less than the ‘Blood and Guts’ album: there is a small hiss in the background. Still the music sounds detailed and well recorded. I don’t know how the vinyl sounds….

(1970) Blood and Guts ****1/2

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Patrice Caratini (bass), Guy Hayat (drums)
Recorded on: May 12th, 1970

Mal’s first trip to Japan was relatively short and compared to other journey’s not very productive yet. Back in Europe he started touring again, playing mostly in trio and solo form. He was a much seen musician those days in France and Germany. Especially in these years, Mal did not really have touring band. His band was mostly composed by local musicians that joined him on live gigs. And Mal never failed too get the best out of them.

‘Blood and Guts’ is Mal’s very first live record as a leader. It was taped at the American Center for Students and Arts: a meeting place for both French and American writers, artists and musicians. Mal played again with Caratini (who is on ‘Ursula’ also) and French drummer Guy Hayat (who had played with Bud Powell multiple times) to record probably the most definitive version of his classic ‘Blood and Guts’. A highly energetic original, with it’s funny loop by Mal’s left hand, this composition remains such a strong effort by Mal. The following ‘Down at Gils’ has this lovely repeating loop after which it goes into a swinging song. Monk is never far away but here he was probably on Mal’s shoulder. Caratini seems to be more at ease than he was on the ‘Ursula’ session and provides some great backing, as is Hayat who plays excellent. And as with most of his gigs, there is plenty of space for them to solo on. Mal was far from egocentric and always gave his companions lots of space to improvise.

The only standard on the album is ‘My Funny Valentine’. Mal doesn’t do a lot of jazz standards but if he does in a trio form, he never fails to impress and be creative with it. At first the melody is hard to recognize but it comes closer and closer as the song progresses. The tempo changes multiple times but the feeling stays close to how the original was meant to be.

Like with many of Waldron’s live recordings, the live atmosphere contributes to the record in a very positive way. The audience keeps it pretty civilized but yet you could taste the live atmosphere and smell Mal’s 22th cigarette he just lit during Caratini’s bass solo.

This a highly recommended live gig by a great trio. The 2012 Futura reissue in digipack form is excellent: the sound quality is absolutely stunning, especially for a live recording. Unfortunately like with most albums from that Futura series, there are no liner notes whatsoever. A missed opportunity if you ask me because there’s a lot one could tell about this stage in Waldron’s career. It’s also still possible to get this on second hand vinyl. The album is not extremely rare.