Mal Waldron was born in New York City on August 16, 1925, to West Indian immigrants. His father was a mechanical engineer who worked on the Long Island Rail Road. The family moved to Jamaica, Queens when Mal was four years old. Waldron's parents discouraged his initial interest in jazz, but he was able to maintain it by listening to swing on the radio.
Early career in New York
Waldron went on to work with Ike Quebec in New York in 1950 and made his recording debut with the saxophonist in 1952. They played at Cafe Society Downtown on Mondays for six or seven months, which helped Waldron gain exposure and more work. Waldron worked frequently with Charles Mingus from 1954 to 1956, as part of the latter's jazz composers' workshop. He was pianist on several Mingus recordings, including Pithecanthropus Erectus, which was a key development in the movement towards freer collective improvisation in jazz. In 1955, Waldron worked with Lucky Millinder and Lucky Thompson. Waldron formed his own band in 1956, which consisted of Idrees Sulieman (trumpet), Gigi Gryce (alto saxophone), Julian Euell (bass), and Arthur Edgehill (drums). This band recorded Waldron's first release as a leader, Mal-1, in November of that year. Waldron was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959, including for the all-star television broadcast The Sound of Jazz.  Waldron played on numerous sessions for Prestige Records from 1956 to 1958, as he was the house pianist with the label, a position he acquired after being introduced to Prestige by saxophonist Jackie McLean. Waldron appeared on several McLean-led recordings, and was praised by critic John S. Wilson for these performances as being "a consistently interesting and inventive pianist, who apparently can create fresh and provocative ideas even in the midst of a shrilling bedlam". Other leaders he worked under at Prestige included Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, John Coltrane, and Phil Woods. Waldron often used his own arrangements and compositions for the Prestige sessions, of which his most famous, "Soul Eyes", written for Coltrane, became a widely recorded jazz standard following its initial appearance on the 1957 album Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors. He composed at night at home in St. Albans between all-day recording sessions, and in a car travelling to and from the studio in Hackensack. Waldron estimated that he composed more than 400 pieces of music during his time with Prestige.  After Holiday died, Waldron played with vocalist Abbey Lincoln and her husband, drummer Max Roach. Around this time, Waldron's playing on his own recordings became darker, featuring emotional shifts and variations in minor keys. In 1961, Waldron played in Eric Dolphy and Booker Little's quintet, a promising combination that ended when Little died that year, aged 23.  In addition to writing for his own band and those led by others, Waldron wrote and arranged for early play-along records that were published by Music Minus One. Some of these recordings on which Waldron played were released under his name. He also wrote scores for modern ballet in the 1950s and started writing film scores in the following decade. His writing for the film The Cool World (released in 1964) was described in The Oxford Companion to Jazz as one of the first attempts to stress improvisation rather than composition in a jazz-based film score.

Q: What was his early career like?
A: Waldron went on to work with Ike Quebec in New York in 1950 and made his recording debut with the saxophonist in 1952.

Q: Did he release an album?
A: He was pianist on several Mingus recordings, including Pithecanthropus Erectus, which was a key development in the movement towards freer collective improvisation in jazz.

Q: Did he have any influences?
A: In 1955, Waldron worked with Lucky Millinder and Lucky Thompson. Waldron formed his own band in 1956,
Did he have success with that?
This band recorded Waldron's first release as a leader, Mal-1, in November of that year.
This band recorded Waldron's first release as a leader, Mal-1, in November of that year.