One More Time

Pianist Mal Waldron, who was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist in the last two years or her life, comes with something of a reputation for uncompromising and brooding playing, partly formed by his frequent associations with people like Charlie Mingus. Yet as his big hit, the ballad Soul Eyes shows, he has a softer side to him and it's that aspect of his playing that is to the fore here. Check out the lovely waltz You, which features fellow firebrand Steve Lacey laying down some haunting, fragile soprano; or the gently funky Blues For JJ's Bass, on which Waldron and bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel work beautifully off each other. With just these three musicians involved - and Lacey often sits out - the whole set emanates a calm borne of the distillation of experience that would surely be impossible for young musicians to achieve. The fact that One More Time was recorded in a studio in a pretty little village in the heart of the Vaucluse region in south-eastern France no doubt helped to create thealbum's atmosphere, for if such surroundings don't create the right vibe, a musician should check their karma.