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Pim

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  2. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    combine-images-3.jpg

    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

  5. Native American Jazz

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    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.

  6. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Clunky said:

    The Soul Eyes set is outstanding , no idea why this has seen such limited availability even in Japan.

    PIm, I've said it before but it bears repeating , thank you for this. It's a really great piece of work you have done.

     

    Thank you for reading!

  7. Native American Jazz

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    1 hour ago, HutchFan said:

    Pim,

    You might want to look into Don Pullen's final recording, Sacred Common Ground (Blue Note, 1994).  The music features a seven-voice Native American group, the Chief Cliff Singers.

    71rtHjfQsQL._SS500_.jpg

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

  8. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    1 hour ago, corto maltese said:

    Pim, the album was recorded at the concert hall of the Schola Cantorum, a private music school in in Paris. In the late 60s Nathan Davis taught jazz history and improvisation there. The concert hall is the former church of the Benedictines’ Convent, dating from the 17th century.

    I see, thanks for that information! I will add it to my blog :) 

    On 25-4-2021 at 10:08 AM, Rabshakeh said:

    It's gone by incredibly quickly. I've enjoyed trading it throughout.

     

    1 hour ago, HutchFan said:

    Pim - Excellent work, as always!  :tup 

     

    Thanks guys. it's a pleasure doing this !

  9. Native American Jazz

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    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?

  11. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Pim

    combine-images.jpg

    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

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  12. Artists influenced by Coltrane's final years

    in Artists

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Mark13 said:

    In David S. Ware I directly hear Ayler, not late Coltrane and in my book that sort of makes sense.

    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.

  17. Freedom mini LP series (Paul Bley, Dewey Redman, Dollar Brand & Ted Curson)

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    10 hours ago, jazzbo said:

    I have those Muzak as well as Griffin, Webster, Gordon, Simms/Brookmeyer, Bud Powell, and Jackie and Roy. All sound superb!

    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.

  18. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

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    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

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    All Reviews in Chronological Order

  20. BFT 205 Download and discuss

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

     
    1. Don’t know the singer. She’s okay. Tenor player sounds a lot like Shepp and this is quite his style.  I think it’s him. Overall okay song! Soul Eyes of course.
    2. Don’t know this. Nice ballad, lovely tenor playing. Nothing very special but very pleasant music.
    3. Oh Abdullah Ibrahim my man. I love the guy and I love this record. So happy I have seen him live a couple of years ago. What a guy!
    4. Yes I know this one! Lazy Afternoon by Pete LaRoca with the great Joe Henderson on tenor. Steve Kuhn is great too here. A pleasant break on the excellent Basra album.
    5. I don’t know this but I like it very, very much. Fascinating composition, excellent piano playing and great trumpeter. I love this and need to get to know it! Edit: now that I am listening closer to the piano player, is that Horace Tapscott?
    6. Interesting vibes player. Don’t know it. Music with lots of space. Cant say I really dig it. Khan Jamal? Walt Dickerson?
    7. No idea. Not my cup of tea
    8. Also not really my kind of thing though she definitely could sing. She has a nice voice to listen to. Cant identify her.
    9. Well that’s Sunny. Guitar player makes me think of Wes Montgomery? But I should have known this one then so it’s probably not him. Not enough thumb too. Love the bass player by the way. Great choice and I am curious who it is.
    10. Don’t know it but I should! Great music. Sounds like a ‘60’s steaming Postbop Blue Note Session. Tenor player reminds me a little of Sam Rivers but I don’t think it’s him. 
    11. That’s Oscar Peterson. I have this but can’t remember the album. An MPS date with Sam Jones and Bobby Durham? I remember! It’s volume six Travelin On. Love this period. Never understood all the hatred against him. He doesn’t deserve it.
    12. That sounds like a highly creative piano player from the 1950’s. Could be Elmo Hope or Herbie Nichols? I know most of Hopes work so it’s probably not him
    13. Don’t know it and don’t really like it. Oh wait I could here it now. That’s Cecil Taylor. Must be an early date I guess, still sounds a little boppish. 

     

    Thanks for this. Really enjoyed this BFT! Excellent en original choices.

  23. Jacknife - the 2 LP set

    in Discography

    Posted

    It was for me the reason to get the 2LP set. Side C and D are really, really good. I am a bit surprised it has not been issued on cd yet in any form (except for the Mosaic of course). Larry Willis is really, really good on these sessions. 

    Managed to find a NM copy of the 1975 LP set that really is NM :) 

  24. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    combine-images.jpg

    A pretty intersting batch of records for this week if you ask me. Lot's of duo's again.

    Monday's duet with Max Roach is fairly unknown. It was released on George Haslam's SLAM label. The concert was given in honor of Mal's 70th birthday and some of the documentary material was recorded at that concert. It's a great duet by the two old masters and it reflects so much mutual understanding of music. The whole record is based on communication between these two legends. I did not expect this, but I do like the duets with Takeo Moriyama better. The Sangoma Everett disc really is one huge disappointment. That group had so much potential with Mal, Chico Freeman and Cecil McBee. But the compositions are really dull sometimes a little silly even. None of the guys have the opportunity to really shine here, it lacks nice interplay and feeling. 

    Black Spirits Are Here Again on DIW with Roberto Ottaviano is really a different story. It must have been difficult for Ottaviano to play in the shadows of Steve Lacy as he sticks to soprano only. But Ottaviano just goes his own way and it really works out well. He has a pretty subdued tone but it results in some very pleasant and beautiful music. Great and accessible stuff. Both of the works with the underrated Romanian reed player: Art of The Duo: The Big Rochade and Misterioso: Live in Zurich are easily recommended. Mal has the same kind of thing with Simion as he had with Jim Pepper. There's chemistry between them, interplay and lots of exciting turns and twists in the music. There's more contemporary stuff like Monk's compositions, but also compositions by Simion that have a more 'Balkan' kind of feel. I love his powerful and robust tone on tenor. 

    Soul Eyes on BMG/RCA Victor is mostly interesting from a historical point of view as it was Mal's last real group recording. Big names present there: Jeanne Lee, Steve Coleman, Joe Henderson, Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. Can't say it really meets up to expectations yet it remains a pretty good record. Big highlights are the stunning version of Soul Eyes with Jeanne Lee's lovely warm vocals and the killer version of the Git Go with Joe Henderson. Today a start with the 'Maturity series': Vol.1: Klassics contains classical compositions only by composers like Brahms, Chopin, Grieg and Bartok. Most of the titles were clearly chosen with Mal's style in mind: they all have that dark lyricism that fits well with Mal's playing. The addition of a vibes player and bassist doesn't really work out very well as both of them aren't very intersting players. The solo pieces are great. 

     

     

     

     

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