Pim

https://transversales.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-paris-1974 Have to say: samples sound promising!

Finally got some time now. Let's see: 1. I love crossovers with Eastern music. Can't really identify a player but Ahmed Abdul Malik comes to mind immediatly. His music mostly remained close to the jazz tradition and that is what I am hearing here. But I do not know this record. 2. Sounds like I should know it but I don't. Music is pretty much okay but none of the musicians make a very lasting impression. 3. Really not my cup of tea. Background music? 4. That's Curtis! Pre-ordered the Tone Poet. Could not resist the temptation. 5. All The Things You Are. But I do not know any of the musicians. Don't like the alto player. 6. No idea. Decent track! 7. Don't know, don't want to either. 8. Walkin! That's a large ensemble. Modern big band playing. Is it Quincy Jones? 9. Some piano. Like it very much. Don't know who it is but I would like to know who it is. Thanks Dmitry. Interesting choices and for me: pretty hard to guess!

I did not, thanks! Thanks Guy hope you'll enjoy them just as much as I do!

Thanks for those stats! Interesting to see. A 3.7 seem like a reasonable outcome. Thanks Rabshakeh it was a pleasure doing this!

Well guys: 143 albums reviewed and that's all of Mal's work as a leader, co-leader and sideman. But in no way I want to let it end here. I've got plenty of ideas to continue but I have to take a small break now. Posted the last 5 reviews and a word of thanks today. Another special thanks for the board members here. Hope I inspired you guys and that you will keep on exploring Mal's music. He really was great. Read the last ones here: Snake Out: A Blog dedicated to the music of Mal Waldron

It’s one of my favorite Belgian blonde beers. Here it’s for sale in the local supermarkets. Lucky me ☺️

Haha thanks for your concern Bresna. My alcohol consumption is limited to two days a week (Friday and Saturday). And with these 8.5% beers I drink a maximum of two. Part from the health benefits I am a fanatic CrossFit exerciser for 5 days a week and I have 2.5 year old son who wakes me every morning at 5.30. So can’t permit to drink more anyway haha. 8.5 isn’t very much but you’re warning is justly. Have three of these in the sun and you will take of your pants and start singing the French national anthem.

Rip Mr Fuller

Another week of sideman appereances, ranging from early seventies till the end of the eighties. Of course there are the two works with German etno-fusion band Embryo. Both Steig Aus as Rocksession are both very interesting records by this highly creative group. A great melting pot of jazz, rock and Eastern music without getting cliche. Enough space for all of these talented musicians to show what they were capable of and it helps that most of them were originated in the jazz scene. Two of the records that seem to be largely forgotten in Mal's discography are the works with German drummer Klaus Weiss. How unfortunate because they are great. Both the studio session Child's Prayer as the live session with the same band On Tour are highly recommendable and in line with the music that Mal himself produced. The band is composed by musicians that mostly appeared within the German jazz scene. They all play great. It's energetic, intense and exciting music. The session with Charlie Parker's stepdaughter isn't very good. The band is great (Waldron, Eckinger and Ed Thigpen) but Kim Parker's voice is very limited if not a little out of tune here and there. One of the pleasant surprises in both Mal's as in Anthony Braxton's discography is their collaboration: Six Monk's Compositions. Their pairing doesn't seem very logical at first hand but this is a pretty great combination. They both really complement each other in a positive way. It's also one of Braxton's more accessible recordings. The recording with Marty Cook is the final recording of this week. Though the group has lots of potential, including Jim Pepper, Mal, Ed Schuller and John Betsch, it fails to make up to that very potential. It's a little dull and most of the musicians sound a little uninspired. Thanks again and have a great weekend! All Reviews in Chronological Order All Recordings by Rating

A Belgian favorite. And a Hutch favorite. Great combination for crappy weather.

Happy birthday Soulpope! So, how young are you now exactly?

Thanks for all the replies. Interesting stuff to dig out. Bit what I expected: crossovers with this kind of music are way less common in jazz than crossovers with Eastern-Asian, Middle-Eastern, Sub-Saharan or latin music. Funny for it's so much closer geographically.

Thank you for reading!

That sounds like the stuff I am looking for. Thanks!

I see, thanks for that information! I will add it to my blog Thanks guys. it's a pleasure doing this !

Listening to Jim Pepper it strikes me that this is a combination I have almost never heard though the combination doesn't sound bad or weird at all. Is there more jazz to be found that was influenced by Native American music or that even blends with it. First that comes to my mind is Don Cherry. More, anyone?

Enjoyed this BFT and made me aware of this topic again. So will participate in all of them from now on

Last 2 albums as a leader this week and starting with his appearances as a sideman. It was raining stars this week with only one exception. Mal really kept some of his best works for his last records. The Mal you hear here is again a little different. His style is more basic and subdued yet deeply emotional. His last work with Steve Lacy (and Jean-Jacques Avenel) is one of absolute beauty. It's pretty structured but has it's free moments. Beautiful music with topnotch interaction with both Lacy as Avenel. Mal's last recording before his death with Archie Shepp remains a favorite of mine. They had played together multiple times before but it was never recorded and released officially. Shepp's raw and bluesy tone matches hand in glove to Mal's warm and deep voicings in the background. A beautiful, bluesy tribute to Lady Day. Mal past away at the end of that year. Traveling back in time to the year 1966: the year of Mal's definitive return on the scene in Europe. When he lived in Cologne and Munich in Germany he gigged with so many visiting and residing artists. One of the artists he played with on a regular basis was Yugoslavian trumpeter Dusko Goykovich. The recording Swinging Macedonia is a very nice blend with the Balkan music from Dusko's homeland. Some of those tracks are really interesting, the more straightahead compositions are bit dull here and there. The Nada Jovic record which also includes Dusko (and pretty much the same band of that other recording) is just plain awful. I thinks it's the worst in Mal's discography. Oldfashioned cabaret like non music which you could easily live without. No idea why Cosmic Sounds decided to release it. Mal's first recordings with what was to become Embryo were a pretty pleasant surprise. The music really does not have much to do with rock or Embryo's later music. But the jazzy music performed here is excellent and pretty advanced. A nice look into the German jazz scene of those days and a interesting listen for this was recorded not long before Embryo was formed. It was released on PD label Disconforme but with permission of Christian Burchard. This weekend was one with some of Mal's best sideman performances. The Benny Bailey disc with it's killer line-up including Nathan Davis, Jimmy Woode and Makaya Nthoko is enjoyable from the first to the last minute. A steaming live session, advanced and very exciting bop with a delicious live atmosphere. Closing record for this week is the pretty rare Jazz Concert in a Benedictine Monastery. I have a really, really soft spot for Nathan Davis and I love this record. Perhaps it's obscurity contributes a little but this whole record feels like little treasure. That tone man, that tone! Backing support by Mal, Woode and Taylor is superb, great record. Anyone knows where this was recorded? All kinds of sources say something different: some say it was recorded at some religious monk school in Paris (including the cover), other sources say a Benedictine Monastery in Switzerland. All reviews in a chronological order All reviews by rating

Really? For me it really is the other way around. I see/hear similarities in Coltrane’s latest group and Ware’s band with Shipp, Parker and Ibarra. But also in their tenor playing style I hear more similarities with Trane than with Ayler.

Perhaps David S. Ware?

Thanks guys, that's more Rivers on the wishlist.

I just can't get enough of River's live trio works from the '70's. So I've got this one, 'Streams' and the stuff on NoBuisness of course. Should I get Hues as well?

Yeah I’ve got the 2LP set of that same labels. Sounds amazing

Hope for the best then with the Cowell. If it sounds even a little better than the Black Lion I would definitely buy it. Anyone who’s willing to try it out? I read bad things about the sound quality of the Dogon A.D. reissue but that might be an exception.

And now... the end is near... Well not yet of course but I am only two albums away from the end of Mal's discography as a leader (from the year 1965). But there's another 20 sideman albums to review so were not done yet This week had 4 of the Maturity volumes. I really love that artwork and the music is goes anywhere from good to excellent. Mal's duets with his daughter Mala are surprisingly good. I tend to like her singing, though she does not sing on all of the tracks. It's mostly a piano duet with her father and de whole setting is pretty intimate. Nothing special but a pretty satisfying session. There's more duets with Takeo Moriyama and again it's an excellent recording. 40+ minutes of telepathic interplay with one of Japan's top drummers. Love his subdued yet very percussive style. White Road, Black Rain is probably my favorite post 1965 vocal album by Mal with lovely contributions by Jeanne Lee. Hearing her sing a standard like Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child or the impressive Japanese poem White Road gives me goosebumps. The whole recording is a little short in time unfortunately. The Elusiveness of Mt. Fuji is the closing volume of the series. It's an enjoyable solo recording that consists mainly of standards. Nothing mind-blowing but Mal's playing is lovely and well balanced here. Cozy music. The other solo disc on 3361*Black, the self titled Mal Waldron is not as good: it lacks creativity and originality. These 3361*Black discs really sound great and most of the music on it is a nice reflection of Mal's last years. But the big downside of them is that they are so hard to find. I bought all my copies trough Proxy shopping sites trough which I was able to get them from Japanese stores. Closing of this week with duets. The duo's with Judi Silvano are just really not my cup of tea. It's old-fashioned in style, Judi's vocal skills are okay but I really have a dislike for scatting vocals (or it has to be Ella Fitzgerald). The duets with David Murray are really more my thing. It's a five star album in my opinion. It's a diverse encounter full of twists and turns, tension and sincere beauty. Their styles blend excellent and I love Mal's humble playing in this final stage of his life. It's full of pure and raw beauty. https://snake-out.blogspot.com All reviews by rating All Reviews in Chronological Order