12/24/2022 0 Comments Npr piano prodigy![]() ![]() Contemporary pianist Matthew Shipp is also a Waldron fan. Waldron was very big in Japan, not least because he backed Billie Holiday at the end of her life. WHITEHEAD: Other improvising pianists have attested to Waldron's influence such as Cecil Taylor and Japan's Yosuke Yamashita. (SOUNDBITE OF MAL WALDRON'S "IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU") Mal makes that connection himself on the standard "It Could Happen To You," repeatedly quoting the riff from Monk's tune "Locomotive." In that respect, his playing might resemble Thelonious Monk's. Like a few other jazz greats, such as his frequent duo partner saxophonist Steve Lacy, the pianist never sounds like he's in a hurry. WHITEHEAD: Mal Waldron's playing has compelling, if off and slow, momentum. Let it wash over you without worrying about where the water has been before. He accepted that certain ideas are in the air at a given time. Even so, interviewing Waldron in 1997, I was surprised to hear him invoke the word minimalism in connection with his music. His solo career really took off in the '70s, the heyday of minimalism, when his short, repeated figures, slow change-ups, and long, hypnotic sequences fit right in. ![]() WHITEHEAD: Mal Waldron, 1978, from the newly issued concert "Searching In Grenoble." Breaking with the past, he moved to Europe in 1965. His solos inch ahead and double back like Gertrude Stein's prose. He'd milk a phrase or a couple of notes dry before moving on and doing it again. Ever after, Waldron described his mature style as economical, yes, but also obsessive. He tried to reconstruct his style from listening to his old records and came up with something new that he'd barely hinted at before. Then he had a nervous breakdown in 1963 and forgot what he sounded like. ![]() KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: In the 1950s, Mal Waldron was a fleet (ph) swinging modern jazz pianist. (SOUNDBITE OF MAL WALDRON'S "HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE") Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Mal Waldron always proceeded at his own pace. Earlier in the 1950s, Waldron played in Charles Mingus's explosive band, made jam session records with John Coltrane and was Billie Holiday's last accompanist. Jazz pianist Mal Waldron spent most of his career in Europe. ![]()
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