Mal Waldron
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| Mal Waldron | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Malcolm Earl Waldron |
| Born | August 16, 1925 |
| Origin | New York City |
| Died | December 2, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Modal jazz Avant-garde jazz Hard bop Post bop Modern Creative |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Label(s) | Enja Records, Prestige Records |
| Associated acts | Mal Waldron Quintet Mal Waldron Trio Jeanne Lee Steve Lacy |
Malcolm Earl Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer.
Born in New York City, his jazz work was chiefly in the hard bop, post-bop and free jazz genres. He is known for his distinctive chord voicings and adaptable style, which was originally inspired by the playing of Thelonious Monk.
[edit] Early years
After obtaining a B.A. in music from Queen's College, New York, he worked in New York City in the early 1950s with Ike Quebec, "Big Nick" Nicholas, and rhythm and blues groups. He worked frequently with Charles Mingus from 1954 to 1956 and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from 1957 until her death in 1959. He also supervised recording sessions for Prestige Records, for which he provided arrangements and compositions (including the jazz standard "Soul Eyes"). After Holiday's death he chiefly led his own groups.
Waldron had a unique playing style. He played chords in a lower bass part of the keyboard, and is comparable to Bud Powell in his dissonant voices. His solo style is in noted contrast to players like Red Garland.
He was frequently recorded, both as a leader and sideman, with, among others, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Booker Little, Steve Lacy, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Embryo and Archie Shepp.
Besides performing, he composed for films (The Cool World, Three Bedrooms in Manhattan and Sweet Love Bitter), theatre, and ballet. In 1963 he had a major nervous breakdown, and had to re-learn his skills, apparently by listening to his own records. Waldron's playing style re-emerged more brooding, starker and percussive, combining bebop and avant-garde melodies, and at times weaving repetitive melodic motifs using just a few notes over a drone like accompaniment figure.
[edit] Europe
After working on a film score in Europe he moved there permanently in 1965 initially living in Munich, Germany and in his last years he was based in Brussels, Belgium. He performed and recorded extensively throughout Europe and Japan in his later decades, regularly returned to the United States for bookings.
Through the 1980s and 1990s he worked in various settings with Steve Lacy, notably in soprano-piano duets playing their own compositions as well as Monk's.
After some years of indifferent health, though continuing to perform, Waldron died in December 2002 in Brussels, Belgium.
[edit] Selected albums
- Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) (Charles Mingus, leader)
- Mal-1 (1956)
- McLean's Scene (1956) (Jackie McLean, leader)
- Don't Explain - Billie Holiday (1956)
- Mal / 2 (1957)
- Left Alone (1959)
- Blues & Roots by Charles Mingus (1960)
- The Quest - Mal Waldron with Eric Dolphy & Booker Little (1961)
- Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot Vol. 1 (1961)
- Free at Last (1969)
- Tokyo Bound (1970)
- Blood and Guts - Futura Ger 13 (trio, 1970)
- The Opening - Futura Ger 20 (solo, 1970)
- Hard Talk (1974)
- Moods (1978) (Enja Records)
- Mal Waldron & Roy Burrowes sextet "Live at the Dreher" - Marge 14 (1980)
- Live at Dreher Paris 1981
- What It Is (1981)
- Mal Waldron & Johnny Dyani duo Live at Jazz Unité "Some Jive Ass Boer" - Jazz Unité 102 (1981)
- Songs of Love and Regret - Mal Waldron and Marion Brown (1985)
- The Seagulls of Kristiansund - Live at the Village Vanguard (1986)
- Live at Sweet Basil - Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy (1987)
- Mal, Dance and Soul with Jim Pepper (1987)
- Quadrologue at Utopia - Mal Waldron/Jim Pepper Quartet (1989)
- Up and Down with Chico Freeman (1989)
- Mal, Verve, Black & Blue Live at Satiricon (1994)
- After Hours with Jeanne Lee (1994)
- The Big Rochade (1995)
- Soul Eyes with Jeanne Lee and Abbey Lincoln (1997)
- Left Alone Revisited - Mal Waldron and Archie Shepp (2002)
- Riding A Zephyr - Judi Silvano and Mal Waldron (2003)
