(1972) Blues for Lady Day ***

 

With: Mal Waldron (piano)
Record date: February 5, 1972

1972 would become another very productive year for Mal, delivering multiple solo works and a few records with great groups. He still spend most of his time in Europe or in Japan. His first record of that year was recorded in Baarn, the Netherlands. It’s one of his multiple tributes to Lady Day who he accompanied till her death. When Billie died, Mal was devastated and he always kept her in a special place in his heart. He pad tribute with multiple records recorded in her honor. Not just songs, but full albums! ‘Blues for Lady Day’ was his second, after the previous record with Kimiko Kasai.

On ‘Blues for Lady Day’ he plays 9 jazz standards that are all more or less affiliated with Billie Holiday. Mal Waldron solo could be very, very interesting but also in some cases: a bit dull. This record is rated pretty high on websites like RYM and Allmusic but I personally do not really hear what all the fuzz is about. Mal plays 9 standards in a very decent way. Decent… no more, no less. There’s not that familiar tension in his playing, but it also lacks some emotional feel, which is weird because some of the songs should really have that feeling. It’s a nice listen and you wouldn’t piss anyone off playing it when you have visitors for a coffee but Mal made such better records. His soloing also sounds a bit uninspired like he just didn’t have his day.

Highlight of the album is probably ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’. Now, the original by Billie could almost make me cry, and Mal captures the right atmosphere here. It has that beautiful sadness over it. His handling of 'Strange Fruit' is also beautiful with the dark and low tones from his left hand. 

‘Blues for Lady Day’ was originally released on Black Lion, which means it is still widely available on second hand vinyl for a low price. You have a choice from 8 different kind of versions, also on labels affiliated with Black Lion like Arista, Freedom and Trio. The 1993 cd version, with different artwork, has a nice bonus for vinyl haters: it contains the whole session of ‘A Little Bit of Miles’ which was recorded after this one that same year. That one is pretty difficult to obtain on cd. Also, the music is available in high resolution files and trough multiple streaming sources. Give it a spin and see how you like it. To me, this is not an essential record.

(1971) Number Nineteen *****

With: Mal Waldron (piano), Dick van der Capellen (bass), Martin van Duynhoven (drums)
Record date: 30 May 1971

Back in Europe Mal did what he did most time of the year when he was there: touring. Mal has recorded a lot in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and also: the Netherlands. Number Nineteen was the first record he made in Holland and just like on so many of his other records he used local musicians to join him both live as in the studios. For this session he was joined by Dick van der Capellen on bass and Martin van Duynhoven on drums. And just as with all those other relatively unknown musicians: again it’s a pretty big success. Both van der Capellen as van Duynhoven really know how to play. It makes you wonder why such musicians are not better known. Perhaps they peaked in a period that popularity of jazz music was really declining. It leaves much up to imagination of what they could have been if jazz musicians were still the most in demand musicians. Both van der Capellen en van Duynhoven mostly appeared with Dutch musicians with a few exceptions. Especially the drummer’s discography is pretty big.

‘Number Nineteen’ starts of on side A with the title song. A long 22 minute song which is one of the very best from Mal’s entire discography. It’s an intense suite that goes pretty much everywhere: from slow and more emotional passages to highly intense on the beat playing. The music is pretty free yet very structured. Both van der Capellen as van Duynhoven seek their freedom mainly between certain lines which makes the music not too far out but still very exciting. Mal is playing beautiful deep and bluesy repetitive phrases till you’re in an almost hypnotized state of mind. The bassists’ solo really stands out here. He sounds inspired by bassists like Jimmy Garrison and Reggie Workman. Beautiful full and dark rich tones, very much in the atmosphere Mal tries to create here.

On side B there is ‘Trip’ which really do sound like a trip. It’s a song with complex off beat rhythms with a huge role for Martin van Duynhoven who matches up perfectly. Also nice to hear how van der Capellen plays with motives from the main theme in his solo. Watakushi No Sekai starts with a very majestic theme, almost march like. The Eastern feel remains during the whole song but is the strongest during the theme. The following solo by Mal is fantastic with that deep and dark feel, playing harder and intenser as the song progresses. Unbelievable how a pianist who plays only just a few notes still manages to surprise time and time again and keep his solo a fascinating listen all trough. Mal is predictable yet also unpredictable which creates a very nice feeling of tension in his music. And again especially van Duynhoven’s drumming work is insanely good. After the mysterious theme again the record comes to an end. And one wishes there was more to listen to by this group.

‘Number Nineteen’ is pretty hard to find these days. It was only released once by Trio/Freedom records, of course: Japan only. When it pops up at the Discogs or Ebay it is not necessarily over expensive. I bought mine for 30 euros including shipping from Japan. The sound, as with most Japanese releases, is great. Nowadays, British label ‘Black Lion’ has also released this on Spotify and Amazon music. So it’s available in high quality digital files also. Number Nineteen is one of the highlights from Mal Waldron’s career. It’s music that should be played loud only. Highly recommended stuff! Their you go: the first five star album for me in his discography. More will follow :)