Left Alone (Mal Waldron album)

Last updated
Left Alone
Left Alone (Mal Waldron album).jpg
Studio album by
Mal Waldron
Released1959
RecordedFebruary 24, 1959
Genre Jazz
Length38:11
Label Bethlehem
Producer Teddy Charles
Mal Waldron chronology
Mal/4: Trio
(1958)		Left Alone
(1959)		 Impressions
(1959)

Left Alone is an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron recorded in 1959 and released on the Bethlehem label. [1]

Mal Waldron American jazz pianist and composer

Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from university. 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.

Bethlehem Records record label

Bethlehem Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Gus Wildi in 1953.

Contents

"Left Alone" is Waldron's signature song. He released an album of a similar title, Left Alone Live 1 (Fontana Records). It was recorded in Japan in 1971 and features Isao Suzuki (b) / Yoshiyuki Nakamura (dms) / Kohsuke Mine (A Sax). West 54 Records released the album on LP in 1980 as Left Alone: Mal Waldron Live.

"Left Alone" is a jazz song written by singer Billie Holiday, and pianist/composer Mal Waldron and published by E.B. Marks.

Fontana Records record label; imprint of N.V. Philips Phonografische Industrie

Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label.

West 54 Records was a jazz record label active during the late 1970s.

The tracks "Left Alone" and "Catwalk" were released as two sides of a single; both were given four-star reviews by Billboard . [2]

<i>Billboard</i> (magazine) American music magazine

Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars, stating: "Although Waldron dedicated the album to Lady Day and talks about her a bit on the last track in a short interview with vibraphonist Teddy Charles (which was recorded a bit later), he actually only performs one song from her repertoire... McLean's emotional alto is such a strong asset on the title cut that one wishes he were on the rest of this worthwhile set." [3]

Scott Yanow is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.

Billie Holiday American jazz singer and songwriter

Eleanora Fagan, better known as Billie Holiday, was an African American jazz singer with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Track listing

All compositions by Mal Waldron except as indicated
  1. "Left Alone" (Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron) – 6:06
  2. "Catwalk" (Mal Waldron) – 6:56
  3. "You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene de Paul, Don Raye) – 5:52
  4. "Minor Pulsation" (Mal Waldron) – 8:14
  5. "Airegin" (Sonny Rollins) – 7:11
  6. Mal Waldron Interview: The Way He Remembers Billie Holiday– 4:09
  • Recorded in New York City on February 24, 1959.

Personnel

Piano musical instrument

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

Jackie McLean American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader

John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in the year of their death.

Alto saxophone Type of saxophone

The alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and patented in 1846. It is pitched in E♭, and is smaller than the tenor, but larger than the soprano. The alto sax is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz. The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.

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References

  1. ↑ Mal Waldron discography accessed February 21, 2011
  2. ↑ "Jazz" (February 20, 1961) Billboard, p. 34.
  3. 1 2 Yanow, S. Allmusic Review, accessed February 21, 2011.
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