New Yorker Waldron (1925-2002) had a two-part career. Initially, he worked in and around NYC with some of the leading jazz modernists – including Charles Mingus – and was Bille Holiday’s accompanist until her death. He recorded regularly for Prestige as a both sideman and leader and it is from this label that Avid have culled three of his albums, Mal-1,Mal-2,Mal-4 plus Left Alone from Bethlehem. Later he relocated to Europe, ending up in Brussels.

Mal-2, which comes first, is an amalgam of two sessions, one for standards, the other for Waldron’s originals, with Coltrane a constant. ‘From This Moment On’ is given quite a shake-up, Coltrane in exhilarating form, trumpeter Sulieman slightly tentative, Waldron displaying both his Monk-ian propensity for repeated, percussive figures and Powell-ish fluency.

For the curiously-named and ethereal ‘JM’s Dream Doll,’ a dedication apparently to McLean and his wife, Hardman is on trumpet, his playing crisper, Waldron spare, Coltrane more-than-usually restrained, McLean Bird-like in his eloquence. Waldron excels on ‘The Way You Look Tonight,’ driving hard while the minor-key ‘One By One’ is intriguing in the sparsity of its theme, but enlivened by Sulieman’s strongest solo. If the full-of-vim Coltrane, inevitably, is the standout overall, Sulieman emerges well too.

Left Alone follows, Waldron’s trio augmented by McLean for the title track only, its elegiac quality well conveyed by McLean’s plaintive sound. Waldron’s ‘Catwalk’ is harmonically simple yet deceptive, its intriguing structure explained in Ira Gitler’s informative note and underlining just how concerned Waldron was with distinctive thematic concepts.

This is especially evident on his ‘Minor Pulsation,’ heavily drum-oriented. CD2 opens with Mal-1, Sulieman accompanied this time by Gryce, the quintet hewing closer to conventional hard bop expectations as on the opening ‘Stablemates’, Golson’s ever-engaging tune prompting pleasingly spacious solo work from Gryce and Sulieman, Euell and Edgehill truly on song.

Mal-4 from 1958, was a trio album, with the short-lived Farmer superb on bass and again mixes old and new, Waldron continuing to offer surprises. His decision to leave the New York hot-house may have reduced his status in the eyes of some. Avid’s compilation is a welcome reminder of just how foolish such opinions were.