Free at Last (Mal Waldron album)

Free at Last is an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron recorded in 1969 and released on the ECM label. The album was the first release on the influential European jazz label.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings
Tom Hull	B+ ()

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states, "The music overall is not that memorable or unique but it does have its unpredictable moments and finds Waldron really stretching himself."

JazzTimes, in a retrospective analysis of ECM's first 50 years, commented, "It's doubtful that anyone who heard Free at Last in its day took particular notice of its fledgling label, but an unheeded message is still a message: We're on a different wavelength."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Mal Waldron except as indicated

Side I
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rat Now"	10:18
2.	"Balladina"	5:05
3.	"1-3-234"	4:05

Side II
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Rock My Soul"		11:23
2.	"Willow Weep for Me"	Ann Ronell	7:34
3.	"Boo"		3:24

Personnel

Mal Waldron Trio

Mal Waldron – piano
Isla Eckinger – bass
Clarence Becton – drums

Technical personnel

Manfred Scheffner. Jazz by Post – producer
Kurt Rapp – engineer
- Manfred Eicher – supervision
Rufus Vedder – cover design
Mal Waldron – liner notes

References

Mal Waldron discography accessed February 22, 2011
^ Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed February 22, 2011
Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1454. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
Hull, Tom (28 February 2018). "Streamnotes". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
West, Michael J. (May 14, 2019). "JazzTimes 10: Landmark ECM Albums". JazzTimes. Retrieved May 27, 2019.

v t e Mal Waldron
Year(s) indicated are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	Mal-1 (1956) Mal/2 (1957) The Dealers (1957) Mal/3: Sounds (1958) Just Wailin' (1958) Mal/4: Trio (1958) Left Alone (1959) Impressions (1959) The Quest (1961) Sweet Love, Bitter (1967) Ursula (1969) Free at Last (1969) Tokyo Bound (1970) Tokyo Reverie (1970) Blood and Guts (1970) Spanish Bitch (1970 The Opening (1970) Mal: Live 4 to 1 (1970) The Call (1971) First Encounter (1971) Number Nineteen (1971) Black Glory (1971) Mal Waldron Plays the Blues (1971) Signals (1971) Journey Without End (1971) Blues for Lady Day (1972) A Little Bit of Miles (1972) Jazz a Confronto 19 (1972) A Touch of the Blues (1972) Mal Waldron on Steinway (1972) Mal Waldron with the Steve Lacy Quintet (1972) The Whirling Dervish (1972) Meditations (1972) Up Popped the Devil (1973) Hard Talk (1974) Moods (1977) Mingus Lives (1979) Mal 81 (1981) Live at Dreher, Paris 1981 (1981) What It Is (1981) One Entrance, Many Exits (1982) In Retrospect (1982) Breaking New Ground (1983) Mal Waldron Plays Eric Satie (1983) You and the Night and the Music (1983) Encounters (1984) Dedication (1985) Sempre Amore (1986) Left Alone '86 (1986) Update (1986) The Git Go – Live at the Village Vanguard (1986) The Seagulls of Kristiansund (1986) Our Colline's a Treasure (1987) Remembering the Moment (1987) The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil (1987) Mal, Dance and Soul (1987) Evidence (1988) Art of the Duo (1988) No More Tears (For Lady Day) (1988) Crowd Scene (1989) Where Are You? (1989) Quadrologue at Utopia (1989) More Git' Go at Utopia (1989) Spring in Prague (1990) Hot House (1990) I Remember Thelonious (1992) My Dear Family (1993) Waldron-Haslam (1994) After Hours (1994) Communiqué (1994) Mal, Verve, Black & Blue (1994) Two New (1995) Silence (with David Murray, 2001)
With Gene Ammons	Jammin' with Gene (1956) Funky (1957) Jammin' in Hi Fi with Gene Ammons (1957) The Big Sound (1958) Groove Blues (1958) Velvet Soul (1962) Angel Eyes (1962) Sock! (1962)
With Jackie McLean	4, 5 and 6 (1956) Jackie's Pal (1956) Jackie McLean & Co. (1957) Makin' the Changes (1957) A Long Drink of the Blues (1957) Strange Blues (1957) McLean's Scene (1957)
With Charles Mingus	Jazz Composers Workshop (1954) Mingus at the Bohemia (1955) The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach (1955) Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) Blues & Roots (1959)
With the Prestige All Stars	Baritones and French Horns (aka, Dakar, 1957) Four Altos (1957) Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors (1957) The Prestige Jazz Quartet (1957) Wheelin' & Dealin' (1957)
With others	All Night Long (Kenny Burrell, 1956) Earthy (Kenny Burrell, 1957) 2 Guitars (Kenny Burrell & Jimmy Raney, 1957) Where? (Ron Carter, 1961) The Teddy Charles Tentet (1956) Coolin' (Teddy Charles, 1957) Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette (John Coltrane & Paul Quinichette, 1957) Coltrane (1957) Dakar (John Coltrane, Pepper Adams & Cecil Payne, 1957) At the Five Spot (Eric Dolphy, both volumes, 1961) Tuba Sounds (Ray Draper, 1957) Hornful of Soul (aka, Catwalk, Bennie Green, 1960) Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (1957) Lady in Satin (Billie Holiday, 1958) So Warm (Etta Jones, 1961) After Hours (Thad Jones, 1957) Olio (Thad Jones, 1957) Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk (1958) Straight Ahead (Abbey Lincoln, 1961) Teo (Teo Macero, 1957) On the Sunny Side (Paul Quinichette, 1957) Percussion Bitter Sweet (Max Roach, 1961) It's Time (Max Roach, 1962) Speak, Brother, Speak! (Max Roach, 1962) For Lady (Webster Young, 1957)

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