Release Date: 29 November 2019
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Gate Fold
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 602577986321
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
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 included 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.
Personnel: Mal Waldron (piano), Isla Eckinger (double bass), Clarence Becton (drums)
Tracklisting
Hakon Aase; Leo Svensson Sander; Ayumi Tanaka; Ole Morten Vagan; Thomas Stronen
Zakir Hussain; Hariprasad Chaurasia; John McLaughlin; Jan Garbarek
Keith Jarrett
Wu Wei; Martin Stegner; Janne Saksala
John Scofield; Dave Holland
Anouar Brahem; Jan Garbarek; Shaukat Hussain
Zehetmair Quartett
Meredith Monk; Ellen Fisher; Katie Geissinger; Joanna Lynn-Jacobs; Allison Sniffin; John Hollenbeck
Stephane Kerecki; Marc Copland; Tore Brunborg; Fabrice Moreau; Ralph Alessi
Quatuor Hanson; Philippe Hattat; Theo Fouchenneret; Emmanuel Jacquet; Rodolphe Thery
Ensemble Fractales; Elis Hallik
Ensemble InterContemporain
Carla Rees, RSNO Wind Ensemble
Silvia Tarozzi; Deborah Walker; Julia Eckrardt
Orchestre Victor Hugo; Orchestre National de Bretagne
Alexej Gerassimez, SIGNUM saxophone quartet
