Early in his career, Mal Waldron played jazz on alto saxophone and classical music on the piano. He later combined his love and appreciation of both kinds of music into a personal and adaptable style of piano playing, and the influence of both can be heard on his minimalistic and highly atmospheric solo piano album, All Alone, from 1966. The brooding title track is one of the most haunting explorations of solitude. It was also perhaps influenced by Billie Holiday, with whom he worked during the last years of her life, and who inspired many of Waldron’s compositions.
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