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
Cameron Brown — drums, percussion
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!