David Friesen, Mal Waldron

Remembering Mal is a duo set by pianist Mal Waldron and bassist David Friesen, taped live in July 1985 at the Hyatt on Sunset in Los Angeles. It stayed in the can for two decades and came out on Soul Note only in 2006, after the pianist's death, which the title acknowledges. The programme is seven pieces, mostly standards, with Waldron's own Fire Waltz at the centre, stretched past eleven minutes.

Friesen produced the release. Doug Durbrow engineered the live recording, which was mixed and pre-mastered at Fuzzy Logic Studio 1 and mastered by Aldo Borrelli at Wizard Studio in Merlino, near Milan. Alongside Fire Waltz come If I Were A Bell, 'Round Midnight, With A Song In My Heart, You Mean Me, Someday My Prince Will Come and a closing All God's Chillun Got Rhythm. In his liner notes Friesen recalls the road, the meals and the chess games, and writes that "our music together was based upon mutual trust and respect". Snake Out, a blog devoted to Waldron's records, describes the set as closer to a jam session than the pair's studio album for Muse, with Friesen showing his technique on If I Were A Bell and a freewheeling accompaniment under Waldron's solo on Fire Waltz. The same review warns that the piano sounds a little plastic at times and that background noise from the room is audible throughout.

Soul Note CD 121398-2, first released in 2006.