Pianonagenarian: Cedar Walton 90

Cedar Walton Quartet - Voices Deep Within

We are back with the next January message, this one concerning a milestone birthday for another dearly departed figure of legend.

He began as a sideman in the 1950s, but he really exploded as a result of his stint in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers -- as close to a Living University for musicians as humanity is probably ever gonna get -- in the early Sixties.

From there he kind of diversified, working as the house pianist for Prestige Records throughout the decade and recording with various Hall Of Famers like Charles McPherson and Lee Morgan.

Around the same time he began recording as a leader; when it was all said and done when he passed in 2013, he had played on recordings numbering in the hundreds and crowding a full thousand!

Perhaps his most longstanding achievement was the creation of the Eastern Rebellion collective, and the many albums that his group named for it have made.

Has there ever been a piano player in Jazz as prolific as Cedar Walton? I'm straining my mind and coming up goose eggs.

No, even the Herbie Hancocks and the Ahmad Jamals gotta give it up to Cedar, who was named for a tree and stood as solid as one -- and left as many leaves -- over a tremendous career.

We'll celebrate the man's extensive contributions to the continuum with this cracking 2008 performance. Watch out for drum deity Alvin Queen -- someday he will get his own post here -- anchoring the proceedings from the backline with customary flair, as per usual.

Cedar Walton Quartet

Brucknerhaus

Linz, Austria

12.2.2008

01 The Newest Blues

02 Little Sunflower

03 In the kitchen

04 CW announcement

05 Dear Ruth

06 Sixth Avenue

07 You Don't Know What Love Is

08 Voices Deep Within

09 CW announcement

10 Holy Land

Total time: 1:19:55

Cedar Walton - piano

Javon Jackson - tenor saxophone

David Williams - bass

Alvin Queen - drums

digital capture of a digital 320/48K Rete Due broadcast

converted to 16/44 CD Audio -- with some applause and announcements edited to fit one CD and Track 08 decrackled -- by EN, January 2024
457 MB FLAC/direct link

I'll return in 48 hours to supply more vital, lifesaving diagnoses... the next one's got a real bad case of lovin' you.

Do not hesitate to glue your eardrums to this lovely 80 minutes of everything, courtesy of the esteemed b'day boy Cedar Walton, who was born this day in 1934 and is in no danger of leaving us, even a decade departed!--J.

1.17.1934 - 8.19.2013