Mal Waldron

Nuremberg, East-West Jazz Festival, 6 May 1972. Mal Waldron's trio with Jimmy Woode, the former Ellington bassist, and Allen Blairman on drums. Three long pieces, all by Waldron, taped live and issued by Enja only in 1975.

Waldron had settled in Europe in 1965 and rebuilt his playing from scratch after a breakdown. By 1972 the new style was fully formed: dark, insistent, built from a few repeated cells that tighten over long stretches. The Enja records from these years (Black Glory, Plays the Blues, this one) are where you hear it at concert length.

Here, There and Everywhere runs thirteen minutes, The Search eight, the title track seventeen. AllMusic gives three stars. Discogs listeners are more excited, one describing brilliant piano playing and "powerful, breakthrough music". The cover, a Weber-Winckelmann design, is one of the label's better-known images from the period.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's Enja Real Jazz Classics series.