Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Steve Lacy & Mal Waldron: At The Bimhuis 1982

191

Steve Lacy & Mal Waldron: At The Bimhuis 1982

Steve Lacy & Mal Waldron: At The Bimhuis 1982
Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy (1934-2004) and pianist Mal Waldron (1925-2002) worked together in bands from 1958, but coalesced as a duo in 1981, continuing sporadically for two decades. Both expatriates in Europe, At the Bimhius 1982 captures them at the Amsterdam club in December of that year in just-now-released recordings.

Although Lacy was associated with some of the leading members of the avant-garde and Waldron played with many hard-bop and modern giants, neither musician can be easily pigeonholed stylistically, as both had highly personal, idiosyncratic approaches. And they were never more personal than when playing in intimate situations like duo or solo (Lacy was one of the first saxophonists to make an a cappella solo album). So this CD, with its detailed, high quality 'live' sound and the Bimhuis' excellent piano, is a welcome addition to the recorded oeuvre of this splendid jazz duo.

What both players had in common was a fond appreciation for the music of Thelonious Monk. Lacy had experience playing with Monk in the 1960s and was one of the first to record albums of Monk's music. Waldron drew on Monk's approach to space, spare attack, forceful, and deliberate touch. The last three of five tracks here are Monk compositions.

After a brief piano intro, Lacy sidles into the melody of "Reflections, Waldron feeding him Monkish chords, meandering out of it into his own variations that flow so organically that they conjure Monk's spirit warmly. Lacy, a master of the soprano saxophone's many aural shades, elicits a rich singing tone ranging from burly to birdlike on "'Round Midnight, backed by heraldic piano chords and Waldron's solo brooding on familiar Monk piano tags.

"Epistrophy is taken at a slower, more ruminative tempo than usual—slow triplets backing Lacy's elaborations of the melody—until Waldron, with suggestions of Monk's stride, creates his own cinematic melody improvisation. Lacy's "Blues for Aida mines the rich mid-register of his soprano in a stately pavane; Waldron's "Snake Out stakes out the duo's avant credentials.

Track Listing

Blues for Aida; Snake Out; Reflections; 'Round Midnight; Epistrophy.

Personnel

Steve Lacy
saxophone, soprano

Steve Lacy: soprano sax; Mal Waldron: piano.

Album information

Title: At The Bimhuis 1982 | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Challenge Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.