About

An electrified meeting of minds, Candy Girl is a lost 1975 session by jazz pianist Mal Waldron, recorded in Paris with core members of the mighty Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the American funk unit who had made France their home and whose deep grooves would later be mined by generations of hip-hop producers.

By 1975, Waldron was a decade into his self-imposed exile from the United States—a transformed musician who had reassembled his sound in Europe and Japan after a devastating breakdown in the early '60s. His post-1969 output had stripped jazz down to its core elements: modal intensity, locked grooves, and hypnotic repetition. Candy Girl doesn’t interrupt this trajectory—it extends it, wrapping Waldron’s minimalist mantras around the funked-up chassis of the Lafayette rhythm section.

Originally released in microscopic quantities on the Calumet label and long shrouded in obscurity, Candy Girl was recorded spontaneously in the studio of French producer Pierre Jaubert, whose Paris HQ had become the workshop for both avant-garde jazz (Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Lacy) and psychedelic funk (Lafayette Afro Rock Band AKA Ice). This session finds Waldron jamming freely with bassist Lafayette Hudson, drummer Donny Donable, and keyboardist Frank Abel on clavinet, Moog and more—laying down raw, unfiltered instrumental funk with an experimental edge.

Highlights include the low-slung vamp of “Home Again”, the crisp, break-laden groove of “Red Match Box”, and the mesmeric swirl of the title track “Candy Girl”—a minor-key electric piano waltz with hints of cosmic soul. There's even a deep cut for the crate diggers: the somber yet meditative “Dedication to Brahms”, where Waldron deconstructs the Romantic composer’s third symphony into a sparse jazz reverie.

Unlike his polished sessions for Japanese labels or the avant-garde swing of his earlier Prestige work, Candy Girl feels more spontaneous, even accidental — and that’s part of its power. It’s a document of Waldron as bandleader, collaborator, and explorer, captured in the midst of a vibrant, cross-cultural scene in mid-70s Paris. Never officially issued with a cover and barely released at all, Candy Girl is a rare convergence of two underground traditions: Waldron’s Euro-exile electric jazz and the raw, sampled-future funk of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. Now finally resurfaced, it deserves its rightful place in both stories.

This official edition features audio remastered by The Carvery, new liner notes by Francis Gooding, and packaging that pays tribute to the obscure original release, complete with replica Calumet label artwork. For years it lived in the shadows; now Candy Girl finally steps into the light — a vital rediscovery from one of jazz’s most distinctive voices. — (via Label)

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Candy Girl is one of the more mysterious dates in Mal Waldron's discography. Recorded in 1975 at producer Pierre Jaubert's studio with Lafayette Afro Rock Band, it appeared in a tiny independent release from Calumet and was forgotten until France's Libreville Records reissued it in small print runs in 2016 and 2020, and now remastered and reissued by Strut in 2025.

For many years this date was rumored not to feature Waldron playing. That's because, while his photo is on the cover and he wrote and arranged all the material, he is not listed in the credits as pianist, though Frank Abel is (he also plays clavinet and MOOG). Finally setting the record straight for the masses, critic Francis Gooding's brilliant critical liner essay lets us know that Able played Rhodes and clavinet and Waldron played electric Wurlitzer piano as well as Rhodes; it was only the second time in his career he had done so: the first was on 1971's The Call. 

Opener "Home Again" commences with a slinky, snaky vamp. Waldron's piano sets out the vamp that is framed by clavinet (sounding like a guitar), a bumping Lafayette Hudson bassline, and hypnotic drumming with funky breaks. Waldron's solo meanders inside the vamp before winding out while digging deep into jazz-funk groove science. The alternate take is more than ten minutes long but offers dazzling drum and percussion breaks that Waldron interacts with flawlessly; his idiosyncratic approach to generating and integrating rhythm remains singular. "Red Match Box" commences with Donny Donable's double-time drumming introduces a whomping funk vamp with Waldron playing lyrically in the upper middle and high registers. Hudson matches the drummer in creating a whirlwind jam that is grounded in blues. When Waldron solos atop the clavinet and up-mixed bassline, he channels everything from modal jazz and soul to rock and mutant hard bop. 

"Bits and Things" uses a blues cadence atop a flowing funky vamp. Waldron's chord voicings are fat, dirty, and sultry; he solos with intensity and sometimes uses the piano's middle C as a telegraph key. Virtually everything else on this track serves the piano as Able expands the foundation with fat chords and shapes under the solo. The title track is the only one here that doesn't have an alternate. It emerges from Waldron's Rhodes as a bluesy, modal midtempo ballad continually washed by whispering cymbals. It's a stunning showcase for the pianist. "Dedication to Brahms," the shortest and final track, weaves together an intro from "My Favorite Things" and Piano Concerto No. 2, closing the set with a Viennese jazz waltz. 

This is a fantastic reissue. It sounds great, comes in a fantastic package, and contains twice the music as the original. Candy Girl is a scorching jazz-funk exercise that belongs on the shelf next to Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters. — (via AllMusic)

Vinyl tracklist:
A1 Home Again
A2 Red Match Box
B1 Bits And Things
B2 Dedication To Brahms
B3 Candy Girl

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Label: Strut 
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered
Reissued: 2025 / Original: 1975
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Soul Jazz, Jazz-Funk

File under: Jazz // Soul Jazz/Jazz-Funk
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