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Rutgers IJS presents Pianist Mala Waldron at Clements Place

Name: Rutgers IJS presents Pianist Mala Waldron at Clements Place
Start: 2025-10-03T19:30:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-03T22:00:00-04:00
Location: Clements Place Jazz IJS – Ruth Bader Ginsburg Building

October 3, 2025 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm EDT

Mala Waldron – Pianist, Vocalist, Composer, Legacy Keeper

Mala Waldron is a deeply expressive artist whose music bridges generations, genres, and continents. Born into jazz royalty as the daughter of legendary pianist and composer Mal Waldron, Mala carries forward a legacy rooted in the golden age of jazz while forging her own path as a vocalist, pianist, and composer of striking originality. Her artistry blends jazz, soul, and singer-songwriter intimacy, marked by lyrical storytelling, rich harmonic textures, and a voice that resonates with emotional depth.

Her father, Mal Waldron, was a towering figure in jazz history—house pianist for Prestige Records in the 1950s, collaborator with Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, and John Coltrane, and most famously, Billie Holiday’s final accompanist from 1957 until her death in 1959. His composition “Soul Eyes,” written for Coltrane, remains a jazz standard. The New York Times praised Mal Waldron’s career as “a study in resilience and reinvention,” noting his post-overdose recovery and his evolution into a minimalist, motif-driven stylist who recorded over 100 albums.

Mala’s own journey honors and expands that legacy. Her debut album Lullaby was a tribute to her godmother Billie Holiday, and her duo project He’s My Father with Mal Waldron captured the rare intimacy of familial musical dialogue. Her U.S. release Always There was licensed by Columbia Records Japan and named one of JazzUSA’s Top 20 Jazz CDs of 2006. She’s performed at the Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and festivals across Europe, Asia, and Africa, including a tour with the 45-piece Magna Grecia Orchestra in Italy.

Beyond performance, Mala is a passionate educator and cultural ambassador. She’s a Creatives Rebuild New York TRANSART Artist-in-Residence (2022–2024), and her work continues to uplift communities while preserving the soul of jazz. Her sound evokes the introspection of Abbey Lincoln, the groove of Stevie Wonder, and the harmonic sophistication of her father—yet it is unmistakably her own.

Free