"Soul Eyes" | |
---|---|
Composition by Mal Waldron | |
from the album Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors | |
Language | English |
Recorded | March 22, 1957 |
Genre | Jazz |
Length | 17:31 |
Label | Prestige |
Composer(s) | Mal Waldron |
Producer(s) | Bob Weinstock |
"Soul Eyes" is a composition, with lyrics, written by Mal Waldron. [1] It is a 32-bar ballad that takes the song form ABAC, [2] and is written in 4/4 time. It was first recorded on March 22, 1957, for the album Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors . [3] One of the tenor saxophonists on that recording was John Coltrane, who brought the song back to attention by recording it in 1962 for his album Coltrane , when he had become more famous. This was only the second ever recording of the song, [3] which has since become "part of the basic repertory of jazz performers" – a jazz standard. [1] Waldron wrote the piece with Coltrane in mind: "I liked Coltrane's sound and I thought the melody would fit it." [4]
Since these early versions, the song has been recorded hundreds of times. [5] A vocal version is on Vanessa Rubin's debut album in 1992; [6] another comparatively rare vocal version, featuring Jeanne Lee, is available on Waldron's 1997 album entitled Soul Eyes. [7] In 2016, the song became the title track of Kandace Springs' debut album. [8]
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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Coltrane is an album by the American jazz musician John Coltrane which was released in October 1957 by Prestige Records. The recordings took place at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey, and document Coltrane's first session as a leader. It has been reissued at times under the title of The First Trane!.
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Coltrane is a studio album by the jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer John Coltrane. It was recorded in April and June 1962, and released in July of that year through Impulse! Records. At the time, it was overlooked by the music press, but has since come to be regarded as a significant recording in Coltrane's discography. When reissued on CD, it featured a Coltrane composition dedicated to his musical influence "Big Nick" Nicholas that the saxophonist recorded for his Duke Ellington collaboration Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963). The composition "Tunji" was written by Coltrane in dedication to the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji.
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