Mal/2 (Remastered) Mal Waldron Sextet

• 1 From This Moment On (2023 Remaster) 06:16
• 2 J.M.'s Dream Doll (2023 Remaster) 08:40
• 3 The Way You Look Tonight (2023 Remaster) 08:26
• 4 One By One (2023 Remaster) 09:40
• 5 Don't Explain (2023 Remaster) 07:00
• 6 Potpourri (2023 Remaster) 06:39
• Total Runtime 46:41

Info for Mal/2 (Remastered)

Pianist Mal Waldron was a prolific composer, arranger and musician who released more than 100 albums as a leader (including numerous film scores) during a career that spanned five decades. Respected for his versatility and bluesy, innovative style, Waldron also served as house pianist for Prestige Records and was a sought-after accompanist, playing for Billie Holiday and Abbey Lincoln and serving as a sideman for Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Eric Among others, Dolphy.

By 1957, Waldron was ready to strike out on his own Mal/1 and a few months later Mal/2 . While his debut was well received, Mal/2 found the pianist taking his work to the next level - recruiting some of the most exciting musicians of the era. In addition to trumpeter Idrees Sulieman and bassist Julian Euell (both of whom performed Mal/1 ), Waldron was joined by rising star John Coltrane (tenor sax), who had recently recorded his own debut as a leader. Sahib Shihab (alto/baritone sax), Jackie McLean (alto sax), and Bill Hardman (trumpet) also participated on horns, while Ed Thigpen and Art Taylor handled drums.

"Before becoming an expatriate in 1965 and eventually settling in Munich, pianist Mal Waldron cut several stateside hard bop albums full of his idiosyncratic and Monk-ish piano work, and featuring choice contributions by some of the music's finest. For this 1957 date, Waldron worked with a stellar sextet interchangeably manned by John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Idrees Sulieman, Art Taylor, and others. Bookended by the pianist's ebullient "Potpourri" and the avant-noir blues "One by One," the set also includes a fetching cover of Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" and a beautifully complex arrangement of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain." (Waldron was Holiday's accompanist for the last two years of the singer's life until her death in 1959.) Solo highlights include McLean's keenly constructed solo on Waldron's "J.M.'s Dream Doll" (dedicated to the alto saxophonist and his wife) and Sulieman's incredibly rich and supple trumpet work on "One by One." For his part, Coltrane is in good form throughout, save for a few sour notes and some faltering solos; at this time Coltrane was still coming into his own and a few years shy of the masterful hard bop sides he would record for Atlantic. Waldron here leads a potent crew on an engaging and original set of arrangements. A cut above many of the relatively straightforward and blues-based hard bop dates of the time." (Stephen Cook, AMG)

Mal Waldron, piano
John Coltrane, tenor saxophone
Jackie McLean, saxophone (tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Sahib Shihab, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 4)
Bill Hardman, trumpet (tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Idrees Sulieman, trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 4)
Julian Euell, bass
Ed Thigpen, drums (tracks 1, 3, 4)
Arthur Taylor, drums (tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Digitally remastered

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 96 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 192 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

Mal Waldron
studied classical piano as a child but picked up the alto sax to play jazz. His piano teacher admonished him for improvising on classical works, calling it “illegal.” Waldron found his niche in jazz, where he said it was “illegal” to reproduce the same notes time after time. In 1947, after service in the Army, he concentrated on jazz piano and graduated from Queens College. He wrote music for dance companies, played with R&B groups, recorded with Ike Quebec, and joined Charles Mingus’ Jazz Composers Workshop in 1954 where he was able to explore new avenues for jazz. He became the “house” pianist for Prestige Records and in 1957 made several recordings with Jackie McLean and with John Coltrane, who recorded Waldron’s “Soul Eyes.” In 1957 he became Billie Holiday’s accompanist until her death in 1959, and together they wrote “Left Alone.”

Waldron was an early admirer of Thelonious Monk and was especially interested in Monk’s use of space. Waldron’s style, noted for its unusual voicings, defies convention and falls somewhere between hard bop and free jazz. In 1958 he and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy recorded the first album of all Monk compositions by anyone other than the composer. In the early ‘60s Waldron joined Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach in recording original music expressing black pride and anger at the conditions of black Americans. In 1961 he recorded a series of albums at the Five Spot with multiple reed genius Eric Dolphy, who introduced Waldron’s composition “Fire Waltz,” making it a staple of his repertoire. In The Quest, recorded that same year, they explored new musical forms in a series of Waldron compositions.

In 1963 Waldron suffered a nervous breakdown and subsequent to his recovery emigrated to Europe in 1965, settling in Munich in 1967 and moving to Brussels 20 years later. In Europe and Asia Waldron enjoyed the status of a jazz guru. A dignified and intelligent man who spoke four languages, he traveled the world as a performer. He recorded extensively throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s with European and Japanese jazz artists and made several solo recordings and duos with his old friend Lacy, who was living in Paris, and with American bassist David Friesen. Waldron continued to perform despite failing health, recording his final album with vocalist Judi Silvano in 2002 and receiving a rave review for his performance that year at the Chicago jazz festival.

Waldron scored several films: The Cool World, Sweet Love Bitter, Trois Chambres aManhattan (French), and Tokyo Blues (Japanese). (Sandra Burlingame)

This album contains no booklet.