| Art of the Duo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1989 | |||
| Recorded | April 5 & December, 1988 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 70:12 | |||
| Label | Tutu | |||
| Producer | Horst Weber | |||
| Mal Waldron chronology | ||||
| ||||
Art of the Duo is an album by jazz pianist Mal Waldron and saxophonist Jim Pepper recorded in 1988 and released on the German Tutu label. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |   [2] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz |  [3] |
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album "a vintage selection" that is "not for hardened cynics," and noted that, while Pepper gives "Over the Rainbow" "the kind of gruff bear-hug that he often brought to ballads," "the originals favour the saxophonist's relaxed blues phrasing." [2]
Steve Vickery of Coda wrote: "this release is an intensely personal statement for the two musicians. With no rhythm section to provide propulsive energy, the impetus is on the duo to generate momentum for itself, something that presents no problem." [4]
All compositions by Mal Waldron except where noted.
Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Waldron led his own bands and played for those led by Charles Mingus, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy, among others. During Waldron's period as house pianist for Prestige Records in the late 1950s, he appeared on dozens of albums and composed for many of them, including writing his most famous song, "Soul Eyes", for Coltrane. Waldron was often an accompanist for vocalists, and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959.
Jim Gilbert Pepper II was a jazz saxophonist, composer and singer of Kaw and Muscogee Creek Native American heritage. He moved to New York City in 1964, where he came to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of The Free Spirits, an early jazz-rock fusion group that also featured Larry Coryell and Bob Moses. Pepper went on to have a lengthy career in jazz, recording almost a dozen albums as a bandleader and many more as featured soloist. Pepper and Joe Lovano played tenor sax alongside each other in a band led by drummer Paul Motian, recording three LPs in 1984, 1985 and 1987. Motian described Pepper's playing as "post-Coltrane". Don Cherry was among those who encouraged Pepper to bring more of his Native culture into his music, and the two collaborated extensively. Pepper died of lymphoma aged 50.
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