CD review: Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy – The Mighty Warriors – 1972 – 2024: Video, CD cover

Tackling the upcoming release for Record Store Day 2024 of Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy’s The Mighty Warriors which is being put out by Zev Feldman and Elemental Records.

This is a 2xLP release that, as you’ll learn from my video, is both really interesting and complex music while also sounding just about as good as anyone could hope for.

The package includes reflections by producer Zev Feldman and acclaimed jazz writer Adam Shatz, as well as the testimonies of the concert’s bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

The extensive booklet also contains interviews with Jane Bunnett, David Virelles, David Liebman, Vijay Iyer, Evan Parker, and Mal Waldron’s widow, Hiromi Waldron, as well as never-before-seen photos from the actual concert taken by Hugo Peeters.

“Lacy and Waldron first shared a stage at the Five Spot in 1958 and had performed together ever since, often in Europe, where both men settled in the 1960s. They weren’t an obvious match. Lacy’s soprano saxophone had a chirping, fluttering sound that often evoked a lightness, an irrepressible jauntiness.

Waldron’s sound had a vein of melancholy as deep and as rich as a Black spiritual, or a Schubert lieder. But the two men shared an affinity with the music of Thelonious Monk and had a similar relationship with the avant-garde, whose freedoms they embraced without ever turning their back on melody. These contrasts and convergences made for a sublime chemistry, and it was on thrilling display that night in Antwerp, the last in a series of three concerts held in celebration of Waldron’s 70th birthday.”

For years, I’ve only collected vintage pressings and prioritized originals of Blue Note, Prestige, Savoy, Bethlehem, Riverside, New Jazz, and more classic labels. Lately, with the resurgence of the medium and more collectors coming to the space, the music industry has taken notice and prioritized putting out high quality reissues of some of the best albums ever recorded. Subscribe to my channel to watch me navigate how to rationalize how I used to buy vs. how I buy vinyl records today.