Mal Waldron

Mal Waldron was an American jazz pianist and composer with a brooding, blues-drenched, rhythmic, highly adaptable style offering distinctive chord voicings, unique left-hand patterns, and enough flexibility to play hard bop and free jazz. He worked with Charles Mingus during the 1950s, but is best known as Billie Holiday's final accompanist. He served as Prestige Records' house pianist from the mid-'50s to the early '60s, and in 1961, he led the sessions that became The Quest, with Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin. It featured one of his most famous compositions, "Fire Waltz." He ...