Blues for Lady Day is an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron

Mal Waldron

Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...

 featuring performances recorded in Baarn, Holland in 1972 and released on the Freedom

Freedom Records

Freedom Records was a jazz record label linked with the producer Alan Bates, as with his Black Lion Records.Individual recordings were distributed via Polydor Records and Transatlantic Records during the early 1970s before the company was bought by Arista Records.-Discography:*1000 Albert Ayler &...

 label. The album was rereleased on CD on Black Lion Records

Black Lion Records

Black Lion Records was a jazz record label based in London, England.Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates in 1968. The label had two series of releases, one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians...

 in 1994 combined with tracks from A Little Bit of Miles

A Little Bit of Miles

A Little Bit of Miles is a live album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron featuring performances recorded in Leiden, Holland in 1972 and released on the Freedom label...

.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 awarded the album 4½ stars stating "the emphasis is on thoughtful (and sometimes a bit downbeat) interpretations at ballad tempoes".

Track listing

1. "Blues for Lady Day" (Mal Waldron) — 3:43
2. "Just Friends
   Just Friends (1931 song)
   "Just Friends" is a popular song that has become a jazz standard. The song was written in 1931 by John Klenner with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis. Although introduced by Red McKenzie and His Orchestra in October 1931, it first became a hit when singer Russ Columbo performed it with Leonard Joy’s...
   
   " (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis
   Sam M. Lewis
   Sam M. Lewis was a Jewish-American singer and lyricist, born in New York City, New York as Samuel Levine-Biography:...
   
   ) — 4:04
3. "Don't Blame Me
   Don't Blame Me (song)
   "Don't Blame Me" is a popular song with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The song was published in 1933.The song received two significant "rock era" remakes: a mellow ballad version by the Everly Brothers, released by Warner Bros...
   
   " (Jimmy McHugh
   Jimmy McHugh
   James Francis McHugh was a U.S. composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs...
   
   , Dorothy Fields
   Dorothy Fields
   Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...
   
   ) — 3:20
4. "You Don't Know What Love Is
   You Don't Know What Love Is
   "You Don't Know What Love Is," a popular song of the Great American Songbook, has one the craziest histories of any song. It was written by Don Raye and Gene de Paul for the Abbott and Costello 1941 Universal picture Keep 'Em Flying, in which it was sung by Carol Bruce...
   
   " ( Gene de Paul, Don Raye
   Don Raye
   Don Raye , born Donald MacRae Wilhoite, Jr., in Washington, D.C., was an American vaudevillian and songwriter, best known for his songs for the Andrews Sisters such as "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", "The House of Blue Lights", "Just For A Thrill" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."While known for...
   
   ) — 5:38
5. "The Man I Love
   The Man I Love (song)
   "The Man I Love" is a popular standard, with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira. Originally part of the 1924 score for the Gershwin government satire Lady, Be Good as "The Girl I Love", the song was deleted from the show as well as from both the 1927 anti-war satire Strike Up...
   
   " (George Gershwin
   George Gershwin
   George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
   
   , Ira Gershwin
   Ira Gershwin
   Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
   
   ) — 3:01
6. "You're My Thrill
   You're My Thrill (song)
   "You're My Thrill" is a 1933 popular song, composed by Jay Gorney, with lyrics by Sidney Clare.-Recorded versions:*Ward Silloway *Lew Stone and His Band *Lena Horne with Charlie Barnett and his Orchestra *Billie Holiday...
   
   " (Jay Gorney
   Jay Gorney
   Jay Gorney was an American theater and film song writer. He was born Abraham Jacob Gornetzsky in Białystok, Russia on December 12, 1894. In 1906, he witnessed the Bialystock pogrom which forced his family into hiding for nearly two weeks, after which they fled to the United States...
   
   , Sidney Clare
   Sidney Clare
   Sidney Clare was an American comedian, dancer and composer. His best known songs include "On the Good Ship Lollipop" , "You’re My Thrill" , and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" .In 1929, Clare wrote his...
   
   ) — 3:39
7. "Strange Fruit
   Strange Fruit
   "Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
   
   " (Abel Meeropol
   Abel Meeropol
   Abel Meeropol was an American writer and song-writer, best known under his pseudonym Lewis Allan and as the adoptive father of the young sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.-Biography:...
   
   ) — 2:47
8. "Easy Living
   Easy Living (song)
   "Easy Living" is a jazz standard written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin for the film Easy Living directed by Mitchell Leisen.The song has been recorded by many jazz performers including Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Anita O'Day, and Miles Davis...
   
   " (Ralph Rainger
   Ralph Rainger
   Ralph Rainger was an American composer of popular music principally for films.-Biography:Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, Rainger embarked on a legal career before escaping to Broadway where he became Clifton Webb's accompanist...
   
   , Leo Robin
   Leo Robin
   Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
   
   ) — 4:48
9. "Mean to Me
   Mean to Me (Fred E. Ahlert song)
   "Mean To Me" is a popular song with music by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Roy Turk, published in 1929. The song is a popular standard, recorded by many artists.Doris Day recorded a version for the 1955 film Love Me or Leave Me....
   
   " (Fred E. Ahlert
   Fred E. Ahlert
   Frederick Emil Ahlert was an American composer and songwriter. He received a degree from Fordham Law School, but instead of pursuing a legal career he began work as an arranger, initially for Irving Aaronson and his Commanders and then for composer and band-leader Fred Waring...
   
   , Roy Turk
   Roy Turk
   Roy Kenneth Turk was an American songwriter. A lyricist, he frequently collaborated with composer Fred E. Ahlert – their popular 1928 song "Mean to Me" has become a jazz standard. He worked with many other composers, including for film lyrics...
   
   ) — 3:01
   • Recorded in Baarn, Holland on February 5, 1972.