1 2

ECM

Mal Waldron – Free At Last (Vinyl LP)

Mal Waldron – Free At Last (Vinyl LP)

£27.95 GBP
£27.95 GBP
Sale Sold out but get in touch
Shipping calculated at checkout.
‘Revisited and remastered, with additional takes, texts and photos, here is the very first ECM session, recorded in Ludwigsburg in November 1969, featuring the great American pianist Mal Waldron, whose resume includes work with Coltrane, Mingus, Dolphy and Billie Holiday. In his original liner notes, Mal wrote: “This album represents my meeting with free jazz. Free jazz for me does not mean complete anarchy… You will hear me playing rhythmically instead of soloing on chord changes.” As Jazz Journal noted, “tough, two-handed modal blues” predominates, and the music sounds as fresh now as the day it was recorded. Indeed, the tersely-grooving Boo and Rock My Soul could be club hits half a century later. The Extended Anniversary Edition of Free At Last is issued as an audiophile vinyl double album.’

‘It’s almost impossible to listen to Free At Last or any of the music that followed without thinking of the trial he had to survive to make it,’ writes Adam Shatz, linking Waldron’s ecstatic minimalism to his nervous breakdown in 1963, and his move to Paris two years later. ‘His rhythms became denser and more complex, his touch harder and more percussive, more “African.” The mood of Free At Last was dark and fierce, radiating identity and purpose. Its idiosyncratic flow came from the drone-like effects that Waldron created by pounding chords with his left hand. They gave the music an expansive sense of space, as if it, too, could breathe more freely in exile.’

Fabulous music; thrilling, soulful and troublous as ever.

  • 1. Rat Now
    (Mal Waldron)     10:15
  • 2. Balladina
    (Mal Waldron)     05:01
  • 3. 1-3-234
    (Mal Waldron)     04:01
  • 4. Rock My Soul
    (Mal Waldron)     11:23
  • 5. Willow Weep For Me
    (Ann Ronell)     07:31
  • 6. Boo
    (Mal Waldron)     03:25

 

ECM 1001

Delivery and Returns

Delivery

Records:

Orders over £60 are free for UK delivery - Royal Mail 2nd Class Tracked

Orders under £60 are £4.50 for UK delivery - Royal Mail Tracked 48

We now ship to Europe! Please add the items to your cart to see the shipping costs for the country you require. 

CDs:

Free UK delivery on all CDs - Royal Mail 2nd Class

Returns Policy

The Jazz Vault Ltd accepts returns within 14 days if products are not used, changed, washed or otherwise manipulated. Products need to be returned in original packaging.

No products may be returned to The Jazz Vault without the prior written consent of The Jazz Vault and are subject to a return charge.

View full details