Label:
Enja Records – enja 3021
(also;
Inner City Records – IC 3018-2)
Format:
2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: W. Germany / Released: 1979
Style:
Free Jazz, Post Bop
Recorded in May
1978, Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.
Design
[Cover] – Weber, Winckelmann
Photography
– Ghert Chesi
Producer
– Horst Weber, Matthias Winckelmann
Recorded
By – Carlos Albrecht
A1
- Minoat . . . . . . . . . . 8:08
A2
- A Case Of Plus 4's . . . . . . . . . . 14:59
B - Sieg
Haile . . . . . . . . . . 20:14
C1
- Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . 3:29
C2
- Thoughtful . . . . . . . . . . 6:07
C3
- Lonely . . . . . . . . . . 6:34
C4
- Happiness . . . . . . . . . . 3:04
D1
- Soul Eyes . . . . . . . . . . 6:49
D2
- I Thought About You . . . . . . . . . . 7:39
D3
- Duquility . . . . . . . . . . 8:31
Mal
Waldron — piano
Terumasa
Hino — cornet
Steve
Lacy — soprano saxophone
Hermann
Breuer — trombone
Cameron
Brown — bass
This
double-Lp features pianist Mal Waldron in two very different settings. On the
first three songs (including the 20-minute sidelong "Sieg Haile"), he
performs three of his compositions in a sextet with cornetist Terumasa Hino,
soprano-saxophonist Steve Lacy, trombonist Hermann Breuer, bassist Cameron
Brown and drummer Makaya Ntshoko. While that set has its share of fireworks,
the remaining seven selections (six originals including his famous "Soul
Eyes" plus the lone standard "I Thought About You") showcase
Waldron as a sensitive solo pianist. This enjoyable and subtle music (which was
also available at one time domestically on Inner City) gives one a well-rounded
picture of Mal Waldron's talents in the late 1970's.
_
Review by Scott Yanow
Clocking
in at over an hour, this generous presentation is nicely varied, alternating
solo piano pieces with a fine sextet. In the latter, Waldron is joined by
frequent collaborator Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone. In addition to the
rhythm section, cornet player Terumasa Hino and trombonist Hermann Breuer round
things out. Waldron relocated from the United States to Europe in the late
'60s, and MOODS was recorded, with extraordinary warmth and clarity, in Germany
in 1978. After the brief solitary piano of "Anxiety," "Sieg
Haile" comes marching in with supple relentlessness. Waldron's compositions
favor sharply defined chordal structures supporting simple, yet unexpected
melodic lines. The album closer is the set's one cover, Jimmy Van Heusen's
"I Thought About You." This performance embraces the same
heartbreaking beauty favored by Billie Holiday, for whom Waldron was the final
piano player in the '50s...
Beautiful
music on two LP's. Enjoy!
If you find it, buy this album!
