Resonance Records is releasing four new titles for Record Store Day 2026 (RSD), several of which hail from the archives of Chicago’s Joe Segel and his club The Jazz Showcase. For decades he hosted amazing artists there and also recorded them. Mr. Segal’s archive is finally opening up, offering fascinating previously unreleased performances by many legendary artists.
In August 1979, the great Mal Waldron — who among many accomplishments had been Billie Holiday’s accompanist for many years before her passing, performed at this esteemed club and his set is being presented on this new 2LP RSD release titled Stardust & Starlight: Live at the Jazz Showcase. Waldron is backed by then up and coming bassist Steve Rodby, before his run with Pat Metheny Group turned him into a global force, along with drummer Wilbur Campbell. The set also features a welcome surprise, with saxophone icon Sonny Stitt sitting in on two tracks.
It refreshing to hear Waldron in a live setting where he also makes sure that his band shares the limelight, bowing out to allow other players to shine as well as taking extended pieces for himself. For example, during “Stella By Starlight,” Rodby takes a sweet extended solo initially gently propelled by drummer Campbell and then owns the club in a hushed bass-only moment before the whole band jumps back into lock step as a unit. The effect is quite dramatic, delivering a real sense of dynamic contrast that not every musician can pull off, especially in a club setting.
Other favorite tracks thus far include “It Could Happen To You” and a lovely “Stardust” with Sonny Stitt sitting in.
As with Resonance Records’ many prior RSD releases, the packaging for Stardust & Starlight: Live at the Jazz Showcase bears the company’s signature style and layout, including gatefold sleeve design, extensive liner notes and archival period photography.
For audiophiles reading this, while the basic recording here sounds good, do note that this is an imperfect archival tape which wasn’t made for release originally. It appears to be captured in mono, which makes sense given the size of the club and the era, the house PA was likely monaural as well. Go into Stardust & Starlight: Live at the Jazz Showcase knowing this is very much an it is what it is situation.
Waldron’s piano and Rodby’s bass sound a bit boxy overall while Campbell’s drums and eventually Sonny Stitt’s saxophone are, in marked contrast, clear, crisp and pretty glorious. Ultimately, its all about the music and even on a less than perfectly tuned piano, Mal Waldron makes music magic.
While I’m not sure what the eventual pricing will be, I suspect Stardust & Starlight: Live at the Jazz Showcase will be selling for approximately $40-50 in stores on RSD. You can pre-order the album on CD for $17.19 at Amazon.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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