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Pim

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  3. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

    I'll have to listen to Flakes again. I didn't hate it but it didn't blow me away either (which is probably why it's been sitting in the racks untouched for quite a while).

    Please let me know how you feel about it! :) have to say I also ‘struggle’ with Irene Aebis contributions on some of my Lacy recordings. 

  4. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    Sunday again, and another week full of Mal has passed by! And it was one very good week with some very good records (and also some less interesting of course). 

    It was a hell of a start with one of my all time favorite records by Mal: The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil really is an all star date with Steve Lacy, Reggie Workman and Eddie Moore. Though the music is widely avaible and the big names it seems pretty unknown surfing websites like RYM and AMG. Anyway, it's a killer live date: Lacy plays some very, very intense solo's, Reggie Workman is in prime form, Moore delivers solid backing and Mal is just kicking ass! The chemistry and interplay is on an incredibly high level and the guys just swing very hard. If you haven't got it yet: get it as fast as you can :). Mal, Dance & Soul was the album on tuesday. Great trio music and lovely duets with the underrated Jim Pepper.  Also a milestone for the fact that it was Mal's first appearance on TUTU records. Fortunately more were to come on that German label and to be honest: I could recommend all of them. Really, a 'Complete TUTU records' would not be a very bad decision. Mosaic would probably not be interested and ENJA doesn't do a lot of boxed sets so chances are nihil of course but just let me fantasize. Preferably with some unreleased sessions! Also on TUTU this week is Mal's duet albums with Jim Pepper: Art of the Duo. Piano sax duets with Mal are always a treat and this is no exception. Some lovely interprations of Monk and a surprisingly beautiful version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' where Jim Pepper takes the solo spot.

    The Lausanne Concert with Swiss pianist René Bottlang is definitely intersting to hear as he is another pianist playing in a very different style than let's say Yosuke Yamashita or Tchangodei. He's a little more classical oriented with slight hints of Keith Jarrett. But I have to say that after 20 minutes it loses my attention. Same goes a little for his solo work for Canadian label Dark Music LTD.: Evidence. Especially the standards are a little too straightforward to make a lasting impression. Not bad but Mal made better solo recordings. It took me a while to obtain a copy. And there was also another encounter with another Italian singer: Flakes with nobody less than Steve Lacy and Enrico Rava. But I really hate it to be honest. I just can't stand her voice and the lack of space for the other musicians is dissapointing. But I am very curious how others experience a record like that. It could of course all be me. Fortunately the closing record of this week is nothing less than a statement of pure beauty: No More Tears (For Lady Day) is one of Mal's best trio records. The playing is very accesible and at ease but it's just really that every note played here is exactly what you want to hear. It's full of soul and feeling and one of the prime examples of how a musician could say so much with such few notes. Highly recommended, especially for those who don't like Mal's more free recordings. 

    Again guys, have a great weekend. Thanks all for reading. I am somewhere between 50 and 100 readers a day and that really makes me proud. All the kind words keep me going and of course listening to Mal's music is never a punishment. Tomorrow is my interview with David Friesen. I feel like a teenager having a meet and greet with Justin Bieber...

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html

  8. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    And there goes another week. The '80's were really a very versatile decade for Mal. All kinds of collaborations, formats and styles. Were getting closer to a new decade but there are still plenty of records to go. 

    This week started with the second half (or was it the first?) of the legendary Vanguard concert: The Git Go is really almost as good as the Seagulls record, maybe equally as good but I always preferred Seagulls a tiny bit. But the title song really kicks ass with Reggie Workman showing off what a hell of a bassist he was. And the version of Status Seeking is probably even better than the original. Both Rouse as Shaw are really on fire and the whole band swings hard! Some more live records with another great band: Eric Dolphy & Booker Little Remembered Live at Sweet Basil. The original rhythm section with two relatively new young talents (back then of course): Donald Harrison and Terence Blanchard. It's great music but doesn't meet up to the original records. I'm mostly impressed by Harrison. Blanchard has always sounded a little to 'schooled' for me. Excellent player but I miss a little character here and there. Enjoyable but not essential. 

    Same goes a little for Our Collines a Treasure which really is a nice recording but Mal has definitely made more interesting trio sessions. It's a pretty straighahead jam session where non of the band members really takes some space to stretch out. The record is rated pretty highly on the web so maybe it's me and everybody should definitely give it a spin and judge for themselves. More interesting to me are the sessions with the highly underrated and pretty obscure French pianist Tchangodei. Tchangodei was born in Benin and has worked not only with Mal but also with Archie Shepp, Kent Carter and Steve Lacy. He has this highly percussive piano style that is both bluesy and afrocentric at the same time. Creative and very interesting pianist to listen to. Three for Freedom is my favorite. A piano duo with the great Archie Shepp on tenor. Shepp sounds very inspired on this date: something that I sometimes missed on his '80's records. The music is bluesy, raw, original, free and very fresh to hear. Highly recommended. The duo record Les Venins D'Afrique is probably even more obscure. It's one of Mal's more interesting piano duets: a 45 minute long journey trough jazz land: there's blues, there's bop, there's African traditional music and there's also some free improvisation. 

    This weekend there was the jam session on Soul Note: Remembering the Moment. With names like Julian Priester, Jim Pepper and Eddie Moore it does not always meet up to ones expactations as it really just is nothing more than a jam session. With some rehearsals and fresh compositions it could have been more interesting. Nevertheless it is a very good jam session. All of the guys swing hard and their joy in playing is hearable all trough the record. Nice one! Last record for this week is Both Sides Now, a solo record that took me quite a while to obtain. It's focussing mainly on Mal's more classical oriented side with some classical compositions. Mal jazzes them up a little. I really like it but I don't know how die hard classical music fans would feel about them. I do think Mal always really respected the tradition they were written in and his sound really fits with stuff by Chopin for example.

    Thanks again for reading and commenting guys and have a great weekend. 

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html

    Small update on the other project: I will have an online ZOOM interview with David Friesen on Monday the 15th! I will publish that in the same week on the Sunday. A week after that a phone interview with the excellent saxophonist Nicolas Simion which I will keep for the 1994-1998 period when Simion was in Mal's quartet. British saxophonist George Haslam has already written down some notes so I am trying to make it a coherent story now. I am also in contact with Reggie Workman and his wife but they have not replied to my last email yet. I also asked them for an email address of Andrew Cyrille. That would be another interesting story to tell!

  12. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Pim

    Well David Friesen just replied that he is willing to do a phone interview with me! I can’t believe it. Same goes now for Romanian tenor saxophonist Nicolas Simion. He joined Mal on his last recordings for TUTU. He is also willing to do an interview by phone or email!
     

    So now I have some time to prepare a good set of questions. But of course I am no professional interviewer so if you guys have any suggestions for questions or just stuff you would like to know from David or Nicolas (in relation with his connection to Mal) just let me know! Do not hesitate to post them here.

  13. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Pim

    6 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

    In the late '70s or early '80s I heard Mal accompany Sonny Stitt at the Jazz Medium in Chicago. His typical "thematic/motivic" comping inspired some intense, similarly thematic/motivic playing from Stitt. Between sets I talked to Mal, complementing him on what he had played. He couldn't have been nicer.

    I would love to have hear that: Mal and Sonny together!

    8 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

     

    (And BTW, my googling has turned up nothing of the name of his second wife, nor (roughly) when or how they met and/or when they got married — nor any pictures of the two of them. Given Mal’s often dapper appearance, and what I’d consider to be chiseled good looks, I can only imagine they were a handsome couple. Can anyone confirm my assumptions? — especially with any photos?)

     

    Mal second wife was called Hiromi. They met and married somewhere in the early ‘80’s. That’s all I know. No pictures to be found on the internet. She and Mal got three more children together.

  14. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Pim

    Thank you so much for those flattering words guys that really puts a smile on my face! 
     

    In the meanwhile Maya Workman has responded to my email and says she will ask Reggie Workman to consider writing a piece for the blog... I can’t believe I even got a reply. Of course Mr. Workman hasn’t even replied yet but please let me keep on dreaming :wub:

  18. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    Inspired by Tom's words I try to contact more people affiliated with him for personal stories about Mal. Up till now I tried to contact:

    - Arjen Gorter

    - Reggie Workman

    - David Friesen

    - Peter Wiesmueller

    - George Haslam

    - Nicolas Simion

    - Mala Waldron

    Maybe no one is interested in writing something down for a blog by some 30 year old Dutch Mal freak but you never know :) If people here on the board have contacts with people who had a personal affiliation with Mal: it would be so great if you could help me out! 

    @Chuck Nessa from earlier messages on the board I understand you did meet Mal a few times but had no personal connection to him did you mr. Nessa? Otherwise of course feel free to tell us your stories :) 

  19. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Pim

    2 months running now but not even halfway there! This really is a journey and I am enjoying every bit of it. This week is a very interesting one for some of the classics that pass by and also the personal memories by Belgian filmmaker and musician Tom van Overberghe.

    The week starts of with the fascinating duet with alto player Marion Brown: Songs of Love and Regret was the first and also my favorite one of their two duets. It's really Marion Brown in it's most soft and subdued way. Truly a piece of beauty and another fascinating duet form with Mal. Just listen to their version of 'A Flower is a Lonesome Thing'... Dedication was Mal's last duet he recorded with bassist David Friesen. Though not essential, it's an highly enjoyable encounter and it was also Mal's first release on Soul Note. Also enjoyable and another interesting direction in his music is the album Space, where Mal collaborates with two French Musicians: Doudou Gouirand and Michel Marre. A trio without a rhythm section the music is somewhere in between more contemporary jazz and more free improvisation. But the music is highly accessible for both Marre's and Gouirands sweet sounds. This was their first of two records.

    Then up come the classics for this week: Sempre Amore with Steve Lacy.... I'll admit these two guys could hardly do anything wrong with me but this is another astonishing piece of music. A first studio encounter by this duo they stick to compositions written by Duke Ellington and/or Billy Strayhorn this time. The music is creative, original, fresh and sometimes tearjerking beatiful. Probably their most accessible record as well. There's also the solo record on Soul Note: Update. I would dare to say that it is his best solo record in the studios. It contains one of Mal's beautiful tributes in it's first appearance on record: Free for C.T. (Cecil Taylor) which is an incridible journey trough all kinds of piano styles. Also the standards played here are all played in a very original kind of way. The second reunion with Jackie McLean called Left Alone '86 is a bit like their first in 1976: it's a good record but nothing very special. And I keep having the feeling that they had more potential together than just playing a few standards together. Closing off this week with one of Mal's best known and highly rated records: The Seagulls of Kristiansund. And yes that record is just freakin great and really still one of my favorites. What a band: Woody Shaw, Charlie Rouse, Reggie Workman, Ed Blackwell and Mal himself. The chemistry is there for a full 50 minutes long and every one of them is at the top of their capabilities. Mind-blowing and essential music. 

    But the real treat this week is the personal retrospect by Tom van Overberghe. I asked him if he wanted to contribute to my blog and fortunately he did! This Belgian filmmaker and musician was the son of freejazz saxophonist Cel van Overberghe and the nephew of nobody less than Fred van Hove. It was Tom who made the excellent Mal Waldron documentary 'A Portrait of Mal Waldron' which is on YouTube these days. He was pretty close to Mal and his family in the last 7 years of Mal's life. In his piece he looks back on his period with Mal but also on his own development as a human being, musician and professional filmmaker.  And don't forget to watch his documentary. It's lovely with appearances by Max Roach, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Steve Lacy and Jeanne Lee. 

    Hope you guys enjoy reading again.

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html

  24. Pimuins Guide to Mal Waldron Records

    in Artists

    Posted

    Time for another weekly update! Mal was really into duets: this week there are five of them all recorded within 2 years time. 

    There are two duets with the excellent bassist David Friesen: Encounters and Remembering Mal. The Muse album is the one I like best. Though it definitely also consist of more straightahead jazz there are also some successful experiments with music that is hard to describe. Lots of creativity and a true showcase of Friesen's virtuoso bass style. Love the sound of his electric 'Oregon' bass here too. Their second recording was released posthumously and is a more straightahead jazz jam session. Though nothing groundbreaking it's highly enjoyable for it's live atmosphere and hearable joy of both players. 

    The 2007 Jazzwerkstatt release 'Live in Berlin' is another fantastic duo record with Steve Lacy. They made plenty and not one of them was a failure. And this one is definitely among their better one's. Also a first hearing of their Billy Strayhorn interpretation: a beautiful version of "A Flower is a Lonesome Thing'. Then we've got a piano encounter with Yosuke Yamashita: Piano Duo Live at Pit Inn. A great dual full of chemistry and lots of piano power. A setting that worked out better than I could have imagined. Also recommended for every Yamashita fan.

    Only the two vocal records of this week really disappoint. The one with Sumiko Yoseyama is slightly better as her voice sounds a little better, her English is a little more fluent and there are no strings. But still, I really do not like her singing. Same goes for Femi Bellomo who's voice doesn't really suite jazz ballads. Her voice is pretty sharp and loud and sometimes on the edge of... out of tune. Interesting for a first appearance of Roberto Ottaviano. But his duo album with Mal for DIW is much better.

    Stay tuned for next week as there will be some classic albums :) A duet with Marion Brown, Sempre Amore with Steve Lacy, Update on Soul Note and... The Seagulls of Kristiansand which is probably one of his best known albums. Also there will be a personal story by Tom Overberghe, the director of the fantastic documentary on Mal's life: 'A Portrait of Mal Waldron'. It will be published in both Dutch and English. 

    Enjoy your weekend!

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-in-chronological-order.html

    https://snake-out.blogspot.com/2020/12/all-reviews-by-rating.html

  25. New Sam Rivers and others on No Business

    in New Releases

    Posted

    On 10-2-2021 at 6:32 AM, Pim said:

    Well guys I’ve got a reply from NoBuisness to my question! My feeling was partly right. There will be two more volumes this year and: a 5 LP limited edition boxed set (300 copies). 
     

    Now I like vinyl but that sounds like an incompletr set and will probably be expensive. So I’ll stick to the cd’s first. New order on the way. But not at those Bastards in Chicago ;)

    Ordered vol.2,3 and 4 today :)

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