Pim

Not really a big fan of Garnett’s leader dates like ‘Black Love’. But his playing on Mtume’s Umoja Ensemble or Norman Connor’s Dance of Magic is excellent. What is it you don’t like in his style?

Oh yeah I will definitely get this!

I am mostly glad that the release is again confirmed by Nimbus. I was a little afraid it would be cancelled. I could wait 2 more months.....

Haha of course I know you wish that for me I was just kidding. But I also know that I might still get the infection, that's why I said: It's all still possible. Netherlands is still largely in a lockdown and predictions are not good. They think it might last until June but the support for it get's smaller everyday. Partly for very strange decisions. Also the Dutch government was very slow with two very important weapons against the virus: first testing and then the vaccination program. Were getting up now but that is of course too late for all of those who died unnecessary because of those mistakes. They opened all primary schools and the high schools partially a month ago. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict that infections will rise again. Research in the Netherlands proved that schools might be the biggest source of contamination. So rates are going up since the opening of the schools and now there is not even a small opportunity for shops or restaurants to open under strict conditions. They are closed for 3 months now and the economical effects are really alarming now. I work at a high school as a teacher. When they opened up our school they promised us quick testing at our location. Were one month further now and there's not even a plan for it anymore. They really should be ashamed of themselves.

Thanks for that hopeful message Bresna My wife's symptoms seem to vanish little by little. Hardest thing right now is to remain calm yourself. With every cough or sneeze I think to myself: oh dear, is this it? My 2.5 years old son really enjoys our quaraintine time together. All that attention!

If was wondering if they were going to do that one! Thanks.

This week was again full of pleasant surprises but also a few slight dissapointments. The diversity in sound and setting is incredible. The second duet with Marion Brown, Much More is as you might expect: it's great. Brown's sound here is so soft, it's like he's whispering trough his horn. It might had something to do with his then recently fixed teeth but I really dig it. It's not as good as their first but it's lovely anyway. Then there's one of my favorite Waldron recordings with such an awesome group: Crowd Scene really seems to be overlooked in his discography and that is very unjustified. Sonny Fortune is steaming here but it's Ricky Ford that really blow's me away. He really is on fire on the first track: one hell of an intense solo. The whole album is in that lovely Waldron style: the music is tense, dark, brooding and it swings very hard. Mal's interactions with Workman are almost thelepathic. Where Are You is a bit surpising in the sense that it's the same group and was recorded the very same day but the sound is very different. It's more gentle and mainstream so to say. Also less intense and for that reason probably a little less interesting. Both Soul Note records I'll Be Around (with Enrico Rava and singer Tiziana Ghighlioni) and Up and Down (with Chico Freeman and the same singer) fail to really make a lasting impression. Have to say that Ghiglioni's voice is moderate and okay to listen to. But the music on both disc lacks a creative kind of spark that I expected with players like Rava and Freeman. The music isn't bad in any way but it all just sounds like it wasn't really their day. The encounter with Freeman definitely has it's moments. On some of the tracks it comes clear that there was some chemistry and the more uptempo songs are the best. The pretty rare record with French reed player Thierry Bruneau is really a dissapointment. Live at the Kave has a kickass rhythm session and Mal is in fine form but I have some serious doubts about Bruneau's technical capabilities to play his instruments the right way. I know someone on this board used to own this record and I am curious to how he sees that. The last record for this week is the disc with German vibist and drummer Christian Burchard. Into the Light combines them in a duo setting and a quartet setting. It leads to some interesting moments with incredible interplay. The music is mostly freely improvised on the spot. Interesting stuff but not as good as the Embryo records. There are also some weird choices in the musical selection as some of the tracks are cut off.... Last but not least was the interview with bassist David Friesen on his time with Mal of course.

@Dave GarrettI know. But my wife was infectious from Tuesday. Of course it’s all still possible. ...

Me own test got out negative... don’t know what to think of it. Was I the source of contamination more than a week a ago? Have I already had COVID and do I already have antibodies?

https://elusivedisc.com/billy-bang-lucky-man-music-from-the-film-3lp/ This looks pretty promising to me. I love Bang and I loved his two 'Vietnam' albums on Justin Time. Anyone familiar with the music? I haven't seen the documentary yet.

This was the last Muse sessions I still had to obtain. Never managed to get the Mosaic box for a nice price. I am very much impressed with the excellent music on it. And bonus track 6 really sparks my interest for Joe Chamber's Almavorid date....

Thank you guys, will keep you informed. Today my Woody Shaw cd ‘In the Beginning’ arrived. That will get me trough the first days I think

Well it was a matter of time of course, especially because both my wife and I are teachers. My wife got tested today and the result was positive. She got COVID. Only mild symptoms up till now fortunately. I’m pretty sure I will be contaminated as well as well.... she is my wife and we kissed and stuff... I will test myself tomorrow to be sure. I’m 30 years old and I workout 5 days a week: I am a fanatic CrossFit ‘athlethe’. But all of that doesn’t mean a thing of course. I think I will have enough time for my blog the coming days

Haven’t seen this extreme prices yet. Have recently sold an LP to someone in the UK. Always used DHL which cost around 10 euros. Prices increased to 35 euros now, ridiculous! Used PostNL instead who have raised their prices from 12 euros to 17.50. Also way to high but better than DHL.

Haha believe it or not: my father doesn’t own a single album by him. In fact I don’t think he even knows who he is. He is a real jazz fan but his collection was always pretty limited. I think he has about 150 jazz cd’s but he spinned them from my birth until I left the house on a daily base. I am pretty sure I could easily drop every artist name from his collection. To give an idea: Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Coleman Hawkins, Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis, Michel Petrucciani, Modern Jazz Quartet, Oscar Peterson, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz. Something like that. There’s not even a single Blue Note record! It’s not that he doesn’t like it, he just never really got in touch with it. Its funny to see how big that influence could be on your own musical taste. Some of his albums are still among my favorites while they are not necessarily counted among the artists milestones. Like The Genius of Coleman Hawkins, god I love that record. I’m also still a huge Oscar Peterson fan while I am aware he isn’t the most popular on places like this board. It really is the sound of my youth. From that musical fundament I started exploring the world of jazz from the age of 15. I remember playing John Coltrane’s Giant Steps endlessly during boring French lessons on my IPod Shuffle that was my dads only Coltrane recording.

Not really mixtapes but more mix cd-r's: my father burned met two cd's called Jazz voor Pim vol.1 en vol. 2. It mostly was a mix of his jazz collection with stuff by Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. I was around 8 years old then. Have listened to them lots of time in those years and those cd's definitely got me more into jazz.

Rip Freddie Redd

Thanks guys!

Well guys, yesterday I interviewed David Friesen in a 1.5 hour long Zoom meeting. It was absolutely great. Very friendly guy with a great sense of humor. And still very active! The results are on my blog now. I am nog musical journalist of course but I tried my best. I hope you enjoy reading! How David Friesen remembers Mal Waldron

Please let me know how you feel about it! have to say I also ‘struggle’ with Irene Aebis contributions on some of my Lacy recordings.

Sunday again, and another week full of Mal has passed by! And it was one very good week with some very good records (and also some less interesting of course). It was a hell of a start with one of my all time favorite records by Mal: The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil really is an all star date with Steve Lacy, Reggie Workman and Eddie Moore. Though the music is widely avaible and the big names it seems pretty unknown surfing websites like RYM and AMG. Anyway, it's a killer live date: Lacy plays some very, very intense solo's, Reggie Workman is in prime form, Moore delivers solid backing and Mal is just kicking ass! The chemistry and interplay is on an incredibly high level and the guys just swing very hard. If you haven't got it yet: get it as fast as you can . Mal, Dance & Soul was the album on tuesday. Great trio music and lovely duets with the underrated Jim Pepper. Also a milestone for the fact that it was Mal's first appearance on TUTU records. Fortunately more were to come on that German label and to be honest: I could recommend all of them. Really, a 'Complete TUTU records' would not be a very bad decision. Mosaic would probably not be interested and ENJA doesn't do a lot of boxed sets so chances are nihil of course but just let me fantasize. Preferably with some unreleased sessions! Also on TUTU this week is Mal's duet albums with Jim Pepper: Art of the Duo. Piano sax duets with Mal are always a treat and this is no exception. Some lovely interprations of Monk and a surprisingly beautiful version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' where Jim Pepper takes the solo spot. The Lausanne Concert with Swiss pianist René Bottlang is definitely intersting to hear as he is another pianist playing in a very different style than let's say Yosuke Yamashita or Tchangodei. He's a little more classical oriented with slight hints of Keith Jarrett. But I have to say that after 20 minutes it loses my attention. Same goes a little for his solo work for Canadian label Dark Music LTD.: Evidence. Especially the standards are a little too straightforward to make a lasting impression. Not bad but Mal made better solo recordings. It took me a while to obtain a copy. And there was also another encounter with another Italian singer: Flakes with nobody less than Steve Lacy and Enrico Rava. But I really hate it to be honest. I just can't stand her voice and the lack of space for the other musicians is dissapointing. But I am very curious how others experience a record like that. It could of course all be me. Fortunately the closing record of this week is nothing less than a statement of pure beauty: No More Tears (For Lady Day) is one of Mal's best trio records. The playing is very accesible and at ease but it's just really that every note played here is exactly what you want to hear. It's full of soul and feeling and one of the prime examples of how a musician could say so much with such few notes. Highly recommended, especially for those who don't like Mal's more free recordings. Again guys, have a great weekend. Thanks all for reading. I am somewhere between 50 and 100 readers a day and that really makes me proud. All the kind words keep me going and of course listening to Mal's music is never a punishment. Tomorrow is my interview with David Friesen. I feel like a teenager having a meet and greet with Justin Bieber... https://snake-out.blogspot.com/ https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html

It’s delayed again....

Some of the ‘older’ cds I bought recently are definitely not CD-R’s. Must depend on if they are still in print or not?

Yeah Multikulti Project is great. I love the two Hera discs! from Romania: 7 dreams. both of course not former soviet states but does the Warsaw Pact count as well?

And there goes another week. The '80's were really a very versatile decade for Mal. All kinds of collaborations, formats and styles. Were getting closer to a new decade but there are still plenty of records to go. This week started with the second half (or was it the first?) of the legendary Vanguard concert: The Git Go is really almost as good as the Seagulls record, maybe equally as good but I always preferred Seagulls a tiny bit. But the title song really kicks ass with Reggie Workman showing off what a hell of a bassist he was. And the version of Status Seeking is probably even better than the original. Both Rouse as Shaw are really on fire and the whole band swings hard! Some more live records with another great band: Eric Dolphy & Booker Little Remembered Live at Sweet Basil. The original rhythm section with two relatively new young talents (back then of course): Donald Harrison and Terence Blanchard. It's great music but doesn't meet up to the original records. I'm mostly impressed by Harrison. Blanchard has always sounded a little to 'schooled' for me. Excellent player but I miss a little character here and there. Enjoyable but not essential. Same goes a little for Our Collines a Treasure which really is a nice recording but Mal has definitely made more interesting trio sessions. It's a pretty straighahead jam session where non of the band members really takes some space to stretch out. The record is rated pretty highly on the web so maybe it's me and everybody should definitely give it a spin and judge for themselves. More interesting to me are the sessions with the highly underrated and pretty obscure French pianist Tchangodei. Tchangodei was born in Benin and has worked not only with Mal but also with Archie Shepp, Kent Carter and Steve Lacy. He has this highly percussive piano style that is both bluesy and afrocentric at the same time. Creative and very interesting pianist to listen to. Three for Freedom is my favorite. A piano duo with the great Archie Shepp on tenor. Shepp sounds very inspired on this date: something that I sometimes missed on his '80's records. The music is bluesy, raw, original, free and very fresh to hear. Highly recommended. The duo record Les Venins D'Afrique is probably even more obscure. It's one of Mal's more interesting piano duets: a 45 minute long journey trough jazz land: there's blues, there's bop, there's African traditional music and there's also some free improvisation. This weekend there was the jam session on Soul Note: Remembering the Moment. With names like Julian Priester, Jim Pepper and Eddie Moore it does not always meet up to ones expactations as it really just is nothing more than a jam session. With some rehearsals and fresh compositions it could have been more interesting. Nevertheless it is a very good jam session. All of the guys swing hard and their joy in playing is hearable all trough the record. Nice one! Last record for this week is Both Sides Now, a solo record that took me quite a while to obtain. It's focussing mainly on Mal's more classical oriented side with some classical compositions. Mal jazzes them up a little. I really like it but I don't know how die hard classical music fans would feel about them. I do think Mal always really respected the tradition they were written in and his sound really fits with stuff by Chopin for example. Thanks again for reading and commenting guys and have a great weekend. https://snake-out.blogspot.com https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html Small update on the other project: I will have an online ZOOM interview with David Friesen on Monday the 15th! I will publish that in the same week on the Sunday. A week after that a phone interview with the excellent saxophonist Nicolas Simion which I will keep for the 1994-1998 period when Simion was in Mal's quartet. British saxophonist George Haslam has already written down some notes so I am trying to make it a coherent story now. I am also in contact with Reggie Workman and his wife but they have not replied to my last email yet. I also asked them for an email address of Andrew Cyrille. That would be another interesting story to tell!