Mal Waldron

Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Waldron led his own bands and played for those led by Charles Mingus, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy, among others. During Waldron's period as house pianist for Prestige Records in the late 1950s, he appeared on dozens of albums and composed for many of them, including writing his most famous song, "Soul Eyes", for Coltrane. Waldron was often an accompanist for vocalists, and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959.

A breakdown caused by a drug overdose in 1963 left Waldron unable to play or remember any music; he regained his skills gradually, while redeveloping his speed of thought. He left the U.S. permanently in the mid-1960s, settled in Europe, and continued touring internationally until his death.

In his 50-year career, Waldron recorded more than 100 albums under his own name and more than 70 for other band leaders. He also wrote for modern ballet, and composed the scores of several feature films. As a pianist, Waldron's roots lay chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s, but with time he gravitated more towards free jazz. He is known for his dissonant chord voicings and distinctive later playing style, which featured repetition of notes and motifs.

Early life Mal Waldron was born in New York City on August 16, 1925, His father was a mechanical engineer who worked on the Long Island Rail Road. Waldron's parents discouraged his initial interest in jazz, but he was able to maintain it by listening to swing on the radio. He then became inspired to play jazz on tenor saxophone when he heard Coleman Hawkins' 1939 recording of "Body and Soul", but bought an alto saxophone, unable to afford a tenor. This allowed him to listen to the greats of jazz in clubs on 52nd Street and elsewhere in the city. he returned as a student to Queens College in New York, where he studied under composer Karol Rathaus This decision was influenced in part by hearing Charlie Parker's virtuoso speed on saxophone,

Later life and career

Early career in New York Waldron went on to work with Ike Quebec in New York in 1950 and made his recording debut with the saxophonist in 1952. Waldron was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959, as he was the house pianist with the label, a position he acquired after being introduced to Prestige by saxophonist Jackie McLean. Other leaders he worked under at Prestige included Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, John Coltrane, and Phil Woods. Waldron often used his own arrangements and compositions for the Prestige sessions, of which his most famous, "Soul Eyes", written for Coltrane, He composed at night at home in St. Albans between all-day recording sessions, and in a car traveling to and from the studio in Hackensack.

Breakdown and recovery In 1963 Waldron had a major breakdown caused by a heroin overdose. He recounted in 1998 that a lot of musicians in the 1950s and 1960s felt that taking drugs was necessary for career progression. His recovery as a musician continued for another two years, as his speed of thought was still too slow over that period to allow genuine improvisation: "I worked out my solos in advance and played what I had written out, until gradually all my faculties returned". The 1965 score for Three Rooms in Manhattan was followed by one for the American film Sweet Love, Bitter in 1967. His 1971 album The Call was the first release on the ECM sublabel JAPO; it features Waldron playing an electric piano. In the early 1970s, he collaborated with the German krautrock band Embryo on the albums Steig Aus!

Waldron became popular in Japan, first playing there in 1970, From 1975 he made visits to the U.S., mostly playing solo piano from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Other formats included a quartet with Joe Henderson, Herbie Lewis, and Freddie Waits; another quartet with Charlie Rouse, Calvin Hill and Horacee Arnold; a trio with Hill and Arnold; and a duo with Cameron Brown. After some years of indifferent health, Waldron, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. He continued to perform until his death on December 2 of that year in a hospital in Brussels, due to complications resulting from the cancer. He was 77, and had played his final concert in Lille two weeks earlier. – two with his first wife and five with the second. Waldron's first wife, Elaine, occasionally sang on his recordings. His second wife was Japanese, and they owned and let several apartments in Japan. Waldron's mother died in 1979. He could speak English, French, German, and Japanese. Before his breakdown, Waldron played in a lyrical way, but after it, "I couldn't find that lyricism inside myself any more, so I became a very angular player", becoming more like Thelonious Monk in playing and composition style.

As an accompanist to vocalists Holiday, Lincoln, Lee and others, Waldron was described by critic and musician Alyn Shipton as "one of the most sublime accompanists in jazz". and Stanley Cowell. Another, Ethan Iverson, describes Waldron as one of his biggest influences, and reports having imitated most aspects of the older man's style during his own musical development, through listening to Waldron's recordings. Waldron contributed more personally to Ran Blake's progress: he was Blake's teacher for a time, helping him to improve his rhythmic flexibility and idea development.

Discography