With: Mal Waldron (piano), Isla Eckinger (bass), Fred Braceful (drums)
Recorded: September 18, 1970
One of the rarest LP’s in Waldron’s catalogue, Spanish Bitch is still a bit like the Holy Grail for Waldron fans. It was originally recorded for ECM but never released on that label. It was a Japan only release on the Globe label. On the cover it still says ECM. No idea why Eicher decided not to release this record as it is great and also pretty unique in Waldron’s discography.
For ‘Spanish Bitch’, Mal teams up again with the great and underrated Swiss bass player Isla Eckinger: a very tight and solid player who is able to play both ‘inside’ as ‘outside’. And when he goes outside he never goes too far. An excellent matching with Mal. Also joining is drummer Fred Braceful: an American drummer residing in Germany who was playing drums in multiple psychedelic and krautrock bands at the time. When Mal made his one and only fusion album in 1971 (The Call), he was joined again by Braceful. They probably knew each other from the scene: Mal already played with German krautrock band Embryo in the late 1960’s and was to make his first official record with them this very year. Braceful is a typical rock kinda player and he gives the album a different kind of pulse and sound with his slightly off beat playing.
The title song ‘Spanish Bitch’ is probably the most free jazz oriented playing Mal had recorded up till then. The song is introduced by a gentle theme, but when Eckinger and Braceful join, the playing gets more intense. Mal is experimenting with dissonance and playing on and off beat and he’s interacting with both Braceful and Eckinger a lot. Eckinger is experimenting with alternative sounds from his bass. The songs on this album are all more build on theme’s than the traditional jazz pattern of: main theme/impro/impro/impro/main theme. What also makes the album kind a special: Mal’s first recording of a pop song, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by the Beatles. His version is nice and heavily blues based. Never knew that song had such a strong blues feel. One can immediately hear that Braceful feels at ease with the more rock oriented sounds on this song (and this album). Black Chant is starting with a dreamy like theme with nice bass backing by Isla Eckinger who gets plenty of space on this song. After that, playing gets more intense and intense. Mal probably play around 5 notes but still manages to keep his soloing part very interesting and hard grooving. Coming back at the theme again, Mal probably almost destroys his piano hitting the keys so hard. The final song ‘All That Funk’ shows again that Mal was heavily influenced by the funk and rock music of those days. Funky music fits in easily with Mal’s hard hitting touch and swing. And while there’s an experimental atmosphere this music still swings hard.
One has to pay a lot of money nowadays for this record. If you’re a true Mal Waldron fan, this record is essential and you should grab it as soon it’s around the 100 euros. When you just listen to him by accident, you’d probably want to spent you’re money in a different way. This is a great Waldron record, but not his best.
