Mal Waldron

Jazz pianist, arranger, and composer Mal Waldron was born in New York City, New York on August 16, 1925. At the age of eight years old, he began studying piano and later switched his attention to learning the alto saxophone. Drafted into the US Army in 1943, he served two years before returning to civilian life and attending Queens College. While there, he studied under Karol Rathaus and decided to abandon the saxophone and return to playing the piano. After graduating college, he began his professional career in 1950 by playing with his own bands as well as serving as a sideman for artists such as Ike Quebec, Charles Mingus (1954-1956), John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, and others. In 1957, he released his debut album, Mal-1, which was quickly followed by Mal/2 that same year. He also began working on recordings with many Prestige artists and composed “Soul Eyes” for John Coltrane. Mal Waldron is well known for his brief time accompanying iconic vocalist Billie Holiday from April 1957 until her death in July 1959. After Holiday’s death, he accompanied vocalist Abbey Lincoln and her husband, drummer Max Roach. Mal Waldron continued to record albums as a leader including Mal/3: Sounds (1958), Mal/4: Trio (1958), Left Alone (1960), Impressions (1961), and The Quest (1962), as well as the soundtracks for films such as The Cool World (1963). However, his career was derailed in 1963 when he suffered a breakdown caused by a heroin overdose and was subsequently unable to play or remember music. Recover was a slow process, but he returned to playing after several years. He relocated to Europe, spending a lot of time in Paris, Rome, Cologne, and Bologna before finally settling in Munich, Germany in 1967. After signing with the ECM label, he recorded a series of free jazz albums including Free at Last (1970), The Call (1971) and Up Popped the Devil (1974). He also began to frequently collaborate with saxophonist Steve Lacy on many albums over the next few decades including Journey Without End (1972), Snake Out (1982), Herbe de l’oubli (1983), Sempre Amore (1987), Hot House (1991), and Communiqué (1997). A prolific artist, he continued to release solo albums and record with other artists including Charlie Mariano, Enrico Rava, Chico Freeman, Jeanne Lee, George Haslam, David Friesen, Christian Burchard, Archie Shepp, and David Murray. Mal Waldron died from lung cancer on December 2, 2002, at the age of 77.

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