The discography of pianist Mal Waldron is extensive, broad of scope and consistently rewarding in support roles (ranging from Billie Holiday to Kenny Burrell to Charles Mingus to John Coltrane) and as the caller of the shots. Recorded in 1961 and released the following year on Prestige Records’ New Jazz imprint, The Quest is amongst the best of Waldron’s albums as leader, featuring a sextet that includes Eric Dolphy on alto saxophone and clarinet, Booker Ervin on tenor sax, and Ron Carter on cello, taking seven Waldron compositions to the crossroads of advanced bop and the nascent avant-garde. A fresh 180 gram edition arrives September 27 as part of Craft Recordings’ Original Jazz Classics reissue series.
Double bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Charlie Persip complete the band on The Quest, an album that was reissued by Prestige in 1969 with the titling reversed, obviously to capitalize on Dolphy’s higher profile. Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin with the Mal Waldron Sextet isn’t inaccurate exactly, but it does misrepresent the album’s compositional focus, as it was the first Waldron album sourced entirely from the pianist’s songbook.
To dig a little deeper, The Quest is part of a spate of albums with partially interchanging personnel that begins by chronology of session date with the Dolphy album Far Cry, cut in December 21, 1960 with trumpeter Booker Little, pianist Jaki Byard, drummer Roy Haynes, and Carter on bass. Next is Where?, Carter’s debut as leader, recorded on June 20, 1961 with Dolphy, Waldron, Persip, and bassist George Duvivier. The session for The Quest was held seven days later.
The following month, performances by Dolphy, Little, Waldron, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Ed Blackwell were taped and released as Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot across two volumes, with bonus tracks added to the CD editions. Two of those bonus cuts were issued after Dolphy’s passing on the 1965 LP Memorial Album.
Although Dolphy is the common denominator on these LPs, it’s worthy of note that Far Cry includes the Holiday-Waldron composition “Left Alone,” so the pianist’s artistry is felt across the half dozen. But nowhere does Waldron shine brighter than on The Quest, his playing serving as an anchor and an emboldening presence on a set with considerable avant-garde inflections, and straightaway in the vibrant opener “Status Seeking.”
Waldron anchors with a profound understanding of jazz history that avoids traditionalism, so that he never hinders the spirit of the endeavor. His solo, flowing into “Status Seeking” following a strikingly eclectic interweaving of Benjamin’s bass and Carter’s pizzicato cello, elaborates upon the distinct modes of expression favored by Dolphy (high-flying) and Ervin (more bar-walking forceful).
“Duquility” slows the pace with Carter’s cello in the spotlight, his rich bowing also prominent in the more quickly tempoed “Thirteen” and the even faster moving “We Diddit”; Waldron’s a particular delight in the latter as Persip follows with a boisterous solo turn. In “Warm Canto” Dolphy is featured on straight (not bass) clarinet, his playing on the stick surprisingly conventional next to his edgier tone on alto sax (and bass clarinet, for that matter).
But as was his norm, Dolphy is in total synch with Waldron’s compositional essence in “Warm Canto.” His solo in “Warp and Woof” is exquisite atop Waldron’s sharp comping, and then Ervin darts in to deepen the weave. The closing track “Fire Waltz” may be more familiar as the opening cut on the first volume of At the Five Spot, but this version, perhaps more reserved, is highly pleasurable nonetheless as it amplifies the brilliance of Waldron’s playing and writing.
As is the case with the majority of early New Thing albums (Coleman’s Free Jazz a notable exception), Waldron and company don’t abandon trad structure on The Quest but instead invigorate form in ways that still sound fresh today.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
