Cedar Walton

Cedar Walton is one of the most universally respected jazz pianists active today, having played in the bands of Lou Donaldson, Kenny Dorham, J.J. Johnson, Art Farmer, and Art Blakey, and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane, and Joe Henderson. Since working with singer Abbey Lincoln from 1965-66, Walton has been in demand as a top accompanist. He's made numerous appearances as a leader with bands including trumpeters Kenny Dorham and Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonists Hank Mobley, Clifford Jordan, and George Coleman, bassists Ron Carter and Richard Davis, and drummers Billy Higgins and Jack DeJohnette, among other luminaries.

Walton has been described as a post-bopper whose solos can be pensive and exciting. In terms of consistency, lyricism, and tastefulness, his style is reminiscent of Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan. Walton always seems to know what's appropriate. In addition to his ability as an instrumentalist, Walton has quietly amassed an impressive body of original compositions for over six decades.

Like most musicians, Walton started  “noodling” on the piano around the age of six or seven. "I started playing by ear," remembers Walton, "and my mother, a piano teacher, said, "You better learn to read.'" 

At Lincoln High School, Walton began playing the clarinet in the marching band, which was led by J.K. Miller, who had worked as a jazz trumpeter. When the football season wasn't in full swing, the pianist recalls Miller leading the students through the music of jazz giants such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie. Later, as a teenager, Walton took note of some of the great performers that came through Dallas.

"I used to see posters for Billy Eckstine appearances, and I had an autograph collection that included Marian Anderson, Eckstine, Duke Ellington, and Lena Horne," says Walton, who began playing professionally while still enrolled in high school. "We were jazz musicians, but we had to play a rhythm & blues style. I can remember playing in a shuffle rhythm so people could dance."

Around this same time, Walton was also listening to live radio performances by some of the major big bands and pianists Nat Cole, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Erroll Garner. Before long, he too would be working with some fine musicians.

"I played at a bar called Pappy's Showland with baritone saxman Leroy Cooper, who was with Ray Charles for so long. I worked a lot with Fathead Newman [also a Charles mainstay]. Musically, he was a generation ahead of me."

Walton tried to absorb the latest records by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, citing Art Tatum and Bud Powell as his primary influences in those days. Following high school, young Walton attended Dillard College in New Orleans for a year, where Ellis Marsalis was one of his classmates. Soon after, he transferred to the University of Denver, where he began to study composition seriously.

While in Colorado, Walton met and played with a number of jazz notables, including Bird, which led to the pianist's decision to move to New York in 1955.

Walton was drafted, spent two-years in the Army stationed first at Fort Dix, New Jersey. And that’s where he met tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter. As a member of the Special Services, he met and played with fellow artists, including Eddie Harris. Walton and Harris cut an album, The Tender Storm.

Most notable of all, it was while Walton was in the service he caught a break--a chance to sit in with Duke Ellington's band. Walton recounts what the Duke said,  "Now you go easy on those keys young man.'”

Following his stint in the Army, Walton made his first recorded appearance with Kenny Dorham on an album, This Is the Moment. This led to Walton replacing pianist, Tommy Flanagan in J.J. Johnson's sextets, boasted Nat Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Jaspar or Clifford Jordan. Walton formed some solid relations with drummer Tootie Heath, the brother of Percy and Jimmy Heath.

Walton succeeded another great pianist, McCoy Tyner, with the Jazztet. This group featured trumpeter Art Farmer, tenor saxman Benny Golson, and trombonist Curtis Fuller.

It was Walton's next job, however, that brought the pianist to the attention of the jazz public like nothing had previously: a stint with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. This may have been Blakey's best band, featuring, and a front line containing Hubbard, Shorter, and Fuller. Walton calls his situation with Blakey “the ultimate experience.”

Walton played with Blakey from 1961-64. Two of his compositions became title tunes for Blakey LPs, Mosaic and Ugetsu. He also wrote the title tune for Joe Henderson's Mode for Joe. During the Seventies, Walton cut several albums: Eastern Rebellion, A Night at Boomer's, and Breakthrough.

In 1996 and 1997, the Astor Place label released two CDs on which all the compositions are Walton’s: Composer and Roots. Some say he's developed his own distinctive arranging style with warm, airy charts and a way of contrasting and alternating his piano with the horns is at once unique and accessible.

In 2001 Cedar signed an exclusive contract with New York-based HighNote Records.  His first record with HighNote was The Promise Land (HighNote Records HCD 7081), which features young alto player, Vincent Herring. His second recording, Latin Tinge (HighNote Records HCD 7099) features the heavy-duty rhythm section of Cucho Martinez and Ray Mantilla and finds Cedar displaying a complete command of the Latin idiom.

In 2005 Cedar returned put out very first solo piano recording since his historic Maybeck recital of 15 years ago.  This recording, Underground Memoirs (HighNote Records HCD 7119), is a synthesis of a lifetime’s experience at the keyboard and in jazz and it cements Cedar Walton’s reputation as one of jazz’s greatest keyboard artists. Cedar has released One Flight Down (HighNote Records HCD 7157).