The Quest (Remastered 2024) Mal Waldron, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin

• 1Status Seeking (Remastered 2024)08:52
• 2Duquility (Remastered 2024)04:09
• 3Thirteen (Remastered 2024)04:45
• 4We Diddit (Remastered 2024)04:26
• 5Warm Canto (Remastered 2024)05:37
• 6Warp And Woof (Remastered 2024)05:40
• 7Fire Waltz (Remastered 2024)07:58
• Total Runtime41:27

Info for The Quest (Remastered 2024)

Probably due to the fact that Eric Dolphy died untimely in 1964, making every one of his recorded contributions more widely sought after, pianist Mal Waldron’s album, The Quest, was reissued soon after its release under the reedman’s name. Tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin is also featured on The Quest. Ervin and Dolphy had both been members of the Charles Mingus group and the two reedmen recorded various LPs together with Mingus between 1960 and 1963.

Mal Waldron, piano
Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone, Bb & bass clarinets
Booker Ervin, tenor saxophone
Ron Carter, cello
Joe Benjamin, double bass
Charlie Persip, drums

Recorded June 27, 1961 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Produced by Esmond Edwards

Digitally remastered

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 96 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 192 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

Mal Waldron
studied classical piano as a child but picked up the alto sax to play jazz. His piano teacher admonished him for improvising on classical works, calling it “illegal.” Waldron found his niche in jazz, where he said it was “illegal” to reproduce the same notes time after time. In 1947, after service in the Army, he concentrated on jazz piano and graduated from Queens College. He wrote music for dance companies, played with R&B groups, recorded with Ike Quebec, and joined Charles Mingus’ Jazz Composers Workshop in 1954 where he was able to explore new avenues for jazz. He became the “house” pianist for Prestige Records and in 1957 made several recordings with Jackie McLean and with John Coltrane, who recorded Waldron’s “Soul Eyes.” In 1957 he became Billie Holiday’s accompanist until her death in 1959, and together they wrote “Left Alone.”

Waldron was an early admirer of Thelonious Monk and was especially interested in Monk’s use of space. Waldron’s style, noted for its unusual voicings, defies convention and falls somewhere between hard bop and free jazz. In 1958 he and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy recorded the first album of all Monk compositions by anyone other than the composer. In the early ‘60s Waldron joined Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach in recording original music expressing black pride and anger at the conditions of black Americans. In 1961 he recorded a series of albums at the Five Spot with multiple reed genius Eric Dolphy, who introduced Waldron’s composition “Fire Waltz,” making it a staple of his repertoire. In The Quest, recorded that same year, they explored new musical forms in a series of Waldron compositions.

In 1963 Waldron suffered a nervous breakdown and subsequent to his recovery emigrated to Europe in 1965, settling in Munich in 1967 and moving to Brussels 20 years later. In Europe and Asia Waldron enjoyed the status of a jazz guru. A dignified and intelligent man who spoke four languages, he traveled the world as a performer. He recorded extensively throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s with European and Japanese jazz artists and made several solo recordings and duos with his old friend Lacy, who was living in Paris, and with American bassist David Friesen. Waldron continued to perform despite failing health, recording his final album with vocalist Judi Silvano in 2002 and receiving a rave review for his performance that year at the Chicago jazz festival.

Waldron scored several films: The Cool World, Sweet Love Bitter, Trois Chambres aManhattan (French), and Tokyo Blues (Japanese). (Sandra Burlingame)

This album contains no booklet.