Mal Waldron

[Head Man]

Has anyone here heard Waldron's Spanish Bitch? I'd really like to hear that session.

Certainly one of the finest of the 70s trio dates. I also like Number Nineteen.

Yes, I've been playing this again today.....it's VERY good.

I understand that it was recorded by Manfred Eicher for release on ECM but for some reason it never happened and eventually came out on the Japanese label Globe. Anyone know the story behind this?

Good question.

I assume it was a licensing thing; Globe had several Mal Waldron titles in their catalog including The Call (Japo) and All Alone (GTA Italy). The catalog numbers on these titles align with Japanese Victor LPs and I believe the two were related.

Most Japanese ECMs I've encountered are on Trio/Kenwood and from a few years later.

I just wondered whether there might have been a falling out between the two (Eicher & Waldron). Mal Waldren's "Free at Last" was the very first release by ECM and "Spanish Bitch" was recorded less than a year later. Apart from one other recording, "The Call" (which came out on Japo and has never been re-issued on CD), Mal Waldron never recorded for ECM again.

[colinmce]

Maybe, but early ECM is full of interesting one-offs.

[Steve Reynolds]

try to find this one:

[Pim]

anyone seen this beautiful doc? Nice interviews with Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Steve Lacy, Max Roach and Jeanne Lee. 

And Mal himself... what a sweet guy. Such a humble person.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Pim

[felser]

22 minutes ago, Pim said:

anyone seen this beautiful doc? Nice interviews with Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Steve Lacy, Max Roach and Jeanne Lee. 

And Mal himself... what a sweet guy. Such a humble person.

I look forward to checking it out - thanks for sharing!

[Rooster_Ties]

1 hour ago, felser said:

I look forward to checking it out - thanks for sharing!

I discovered that doc online on YouTube about 2 months ago, and it's pretty good. Certainly gives the participants plenty of space to talk (mean that as a good thing).

[charlesp]

What a beautiful way to spend 51 minutes - come out better for being in the presence of humble greatness - thank you Mal, Max, Steve, Jeanne, Andrew, Reggie and the skilled documentary team!

Edited June 29, 2019 by charlesp

[aparxa]

On 27/6/2019 at 7:39 PM, Pim said:

anyone seen this beautiful doc? Nice interviews with Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Steve Lacy, Max Roach and Jeanne Lee. 

And Mal himself... what a sweet guy. Such a humble person.

A great doc, I remember watching it a few times in the early Youtube days when it  was in 9 min parts (along with other docs like Reflections, New York-Paris  (ARTE,1998) and Earl "Fatha" Hines (ATV,1975)).

Travellin' In Soul-Time with Waldron and Lee has been recorded around the same time of this doc and is a beauty.

 

[Pim]

47 minutes ago, aparxa said:

A great doc, I remember watching it a few times in the early Youtube days when it  was in 9 min parts (along with other docs like Reflections, New York-Paris  (ARTE,1998) and Earl "Fatha" Hines (ATV,1975)).

Travellin' In Soul-Time with Waldron and Lee has been recorded around the same time of this doc and is a beauty.

 

Indeed. And I think also Explorations to the Mth Degree with Max Roach. Nice stuff!

[aparxa]

2 hours ago, Pim said:

Indeed. And I think also Explorations to the Mth Degree with Max Roach. Nice stuff!

Thanks for the tip, I did not know about this record ! That's now 176 Waldron entries in my Discogs wantlist...

My top 5 new-to-me in the past year has been:

Reminicent Suite
Much More ! (+Marion Brown)
Duo, Quartett, Solo (+Burchard)
Three For Freedom
Run About MAL

[mjzee]

Just finished listening to this 11-CD box set.  What a ride!  Mostly great.  I love Mal's clarity of playing; he has a hard attack, which I like in a pianist.  All sorts of surprises here.  One that was totally out of left field was Kim Parker's "Sometimes I'm Blue."  Charlie Parker's daughter?!?  Really not bad; she has her own voice as a singer, and acquits herself well.  Surrounded with love by Waldron, Isla Eckinger and Ed Thigpen.  The duets with Lacy and Friesen are very nice; I noted the earlier comment in this thread about Waldron shining in duos.  There's a Braxton doing Monk included; Braxton's never been a favorite, but Waldron's a delight on this one.  The two I could have done without are with singers Tiziana Ghiglioni and Judi Silvano.  But there is a lot of wonderful stuff in this box, and I recommend you pick one up if it's still around.

[Pim]

Never liked the stuff with the singers indeed but the rest makes it definitely worth while. My personal favorites from this box are Our Collines A Treasure, Update, the duets with Lacy and the session with Braxton ( and just like you, I am no Braxton fan). I paid 28 dollars for mine On jazzmessengers. That’s a steal anyhow.

On 29-6-2019 at 11:54 PM, aparxa said:

Thanks for the tip, I did not know about this record ! That's now 176 Waldron entries in my Discogs wantlist...

My top 5 new-to-me in the past year has been:

Reminicent Suite
Much More ! (+Marion Brown)
Duo, Quartett, Solo (+Burchard)
Three For Freedom
Run About MAL

The Reminiscent Suite is one of my all time favorite jazz records. That session is just stunning...

[soulpope]

52 minutes ago, Pim said:

The Reminiscent Suite is one of my all time favorite jazz records. That session is just stunning...

Outstanding indeed ....

[jazzcorner]

A present from the former DDR

[Adam]

Where does one get "The Reminiscent Suite"?

Thanks!

 

[Niko]

 

Mal Waldron, Terumasa Hino - Reminiscent Suite  (Victor (J) SMJX-10155)

Terumasa Hino, trumpet; Takao Uematsu, tenor sax; Mal Waldron, piano; Isao Suzuki, bass; Motohiko Hino, drums; Yuhji Imamura, percussion.

Tokyo, Japan, August 14, 1972

	Reminiscent Suite: Dig It Deep Down Baby
	Reminiscent Suite: Echoes
	Reminiscent Suite: One More With Feeling
	Black Forest

 

that's the easy way...

 

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, Niko said:

 

Mal Waldron, Terumasa Hino - Reminiscent Suite  (Victor (J) SMJX-10155)

Terumasa Hino, trumpet; Takao Uematsu, tenor sax; Mal Waldron, piano; Isao Suzuki, bass; Motohiko Hino, drums; Yuhji Imamura, percussion.

Tokyo, Japan, August 14, 1972

	Reminiscent Suite: Dig It Deep Down Baby
	Reminiscent Suite: Echoes
	Reminiscent Suite: One More With Feeling
	Black Forest

That's the easy way...

😎 ....

[Rooster_Ties]

And here’s the hard way...

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2636760?ev=rb

I’ve been looking for a VG+ copy for less than $55 (incl. shipping to the US) for a few years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a copy for anything less than well over $80. Been temped, but that’s a little more than I can bring myself to pay.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 2/6/2010 at 11:29 PM, kh1958 said:

I saw him live twice--in a trio at the Village Vanguard with Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. That was a hypnotic experience for two sets--fantastic music. That was around 1992 or 1993--smoking was still allowed at the Vanguard and Mal smoked like a fiend throughout the entire set. The second time was at Sweet Basil--a completely different experience, I don't know what was wrong, it was a quintet with Ricky Ford and (I think) Chico Freeman--the music was not working, the saxophonists were overbearing--Mal was in the background for the most part, I didn't like the group and left after one set.

I was once told by someone who knew Mal that the smoking bans in the US are why he stopped touring there. I once had a chance to see him in Berlin when i was there on business but the business side of things ran over. I regret that I never did get to see him play.

[kh1958]

1 hour ago, bresna said:

I was once told by someone who knew Mal that the smoking bans in the US are why he stopped touring there. I once had a chance to see him in Berlin when i was there on business but the business side of things ran over. I regret that I never did get to see him play.

Re-reading my account now I think, I made a mistake and I should have stayed for the second set at Sweet Basil. I like the Mal Waldron quintet recordings on Black Saint/Soul Note. Things might well have come together for the second set. No more chances for me to see him, I know now.

[Pim]

4 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

And here’s the hard way...

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2636760?ev=rb

I’ve been looking for a VG+ copy for less than $55 (incl. shipping to the US) for a few years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a copy for anything less than well over $80. Been temped, but that’s a little more than I can bring myself to pay.

With Spanish Bitch, it’s the only record I payed more than 60 euros for in my life. My copy was 75 dollars incl. shipping. A record needs to be very special to me to pay that amount and The Reminiscent Suite definitely is.

Together with Trane, Mal is my big hero. And where Trane has always been far away (I was born in 1990) I could have seen Mal in the Bimhuis in 2001 but I wasn’t aware of him at that age. Unfortunate and a funny feeling he was there playing 28 kilometers from my home but I didn’t even knew his name then

[Adam]

Someone somehow really needs to do an affordable reissue of all the Japanese Waldron albums.  Sigh.  

[Rooster_Ties]

Does anyone else have this Mal date from 1966(!), recorded in Italy (iirc) -- with Giovanni Tommaso (bass), and Pepito Pignatelli (drums).

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/702159

https://www.discogs.com/Mal-Waldron-Trio-Mal-Waldron-Trio/release/6326893

Very much a transitional date, and it certainly foreshadows where Mal was going on Free At Last just a few short years later.  It's nowhere near as refined (or as bold a statement) as Free At Last, but if you know where he's headed, it's clear this was a stopping point along the way (just prior).

Just for giggles, I'm going to quote the Dusty Groove prose, for posterity -- since this is a fairly obscure date, and I doubt the text will forever be available/accessible via Dusty's site.  Mine cost me $20 from Dusty (brand new).  It's a nifty date, but I'm not sure I absolutely needed it (at least not at that price), but I've got it, and no big regrets.

 

Mal Waldron -- Mal Waldron Trio

CD (Item 702159) Karim/SeriE.WOC (Italy), 1966

• One of the rarest Mal Waldron albums of the 60s – and one of the best, as well – an obscure trio date recorded in Italy, filled with original compositions, and a great link between Mal's hardbop work of the 50s and his freer sounds to come! There's a nice sense of darkness throughout – the energy that Waldron brought to some of his best late 50s dates as a leader for Prestige – a way of phrasing that's quite different than most of Mal's contemporaries, with elements that are brought out strongly by the trio's work of Giovanni Tommaso on bass. Pepito Pignatelli plays drums, but keeps things subtle – so most of the record's key interplay is between Waldron and Tommaso – and titles include "Steady Bread", "Blues For Picchi", "Maroc", "For Bob", "Speedy", and "Theme De Coureurs" – as well as a great version of "Chim Chim Cheree".

[Pim]

Yeah got that one on vinyl. The reissue of course. The original is very rare: Dusty Groove did not lie bout that. It is definitely not essential Mal but interesting to hear his development. Just like All Alone and Ursula from this period: you can definitely live without them but if you’re a true Mal lover I would not hesitate to buy them. 

[Teasing the Korean]

I have one Mal Waldron LP filed in the Spy/Private Eye section of the LP accumulation:  A mono copy of Sweet Love, Bitter on impulse!  It is filed alphabetically between Ken Thorne's Help! and Franz Waxman's Crime in the Streets.

I have never seen the film, but it appears to be right up my alley.  I assume the LP was a re-record, as was common at the time?

Has anyone seen the film?  Is it any good?

Edited January 4, 2020 by Teasing the Korean