Jazz Articles about Cedar Walton

Cedar Walton Trio at Night Town

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 11, 2002

Cedar Walton Trio Night Town Cleveland Heights, Ohio April 4, 2002 Every spring, jazz fans in Cleveland can look forward to a stupefying array of festivities revolving around the Tri-C JazzFest, which happens to be America's premier educational jazz festival. Over the years, this has also meant that other jazz-related presentations have had the opportunity to ride the coattails of the festival and such was the case with two sets on a warm April evening ...

Cedar Walton: The Promise Land

by Glenn Astarita
December 1, 2001

Few would debate pianist Cedar Walton's significance in jazz. With this release, the artist continues to utilize the efforts of alto saxophonist Vincent Herring and bassist David Williams, while Kenny Washington inherits the chair once held by the late drummer Billy Higgins. Therefore, as one might surmise, Walton's eloquence and artisanship is once again prominently exhibited on his latest group led effort.

On the opener and title piece, “Promise Land," the quartet bases its soulful vibe upon Herring's unruffled phraseology ...

Cedar Walton: Three Sundays In The Seventies

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

Label M launched its new enterprise with a stunning live and previously unreleased concert by Stan Getz at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore. With more than 200 tapes recorded by Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society legally in its possession, the label continues to remaster and enhance the tapes from a home recorder that captured the spirit of the concerts. In some respects, the Society recorded during what has become a golden age for some of the greatest musicians in jazz.

Cedar Walton: The Maestro

by David A. Orthmann
August 1, 2000

There’s a lot of memorable music on this reissue of two sessions recorded a decade apart. The common element is the presence of longtime Walton associates, bassist David Williams and drummer Billy Higgins, who play on all 12 tracks. The music from December, 1980 (tracks 1-8) includes tenor saxophonist Bob Berg (the fourth member of the pianist’s working band at the time) and four cuts with vocalist Abbey Lincoln (who Walton worked with in the mid-sixties).

Recorded at the end ...

Cedar Walton: The Maestro

by David Adler
August 1, 2000

Cedar Walton, a hard bop legend if there ever was one, released The Maestro for Muse in 1980. This new reissue from 32 Jazz features the original program in its entirety, along with four additional tracks recorded a decade later for another Muse release, As Long As There’s Music. Abbey Lincoln appears as a special guest on four of the 1980 tracks — two of which, “Not In Love" and “Castles," are Lincoln originals. The inimitable singer also ...

Cedar Walton: The Maestro

by David A. Orthmann
August 1, 2000

There’s a lot of memorable music on this reissue of two sessions recorded a decade apart. The common element is the presence of longtime Walton associates, bassist David Williams and drummer Billy Higgins, who play on all 12 tracks. The music from December, 1980 (tracks 1-8) includes tenor saxophonist Bob Berg (the fourth member of the pianist’s working band at the time) and four cuts with vocalist Abbey Lincoln (who Walton worked with in the mid-sixties).

Recorded at the end ...

Cedar Walton/Hank Mobley Quintet: Breakthrough!

by Douglas Payne
October 1, 1999

Although recorded 14 years before he died, 1972's Breakthrough was one of the final recordings the lamentably under-appreciated tenor great Hank Mobley made (he also guested on a 1980 Tete Montoliu record). Mobley, an especially lyrical and melodic tenor titan, had recorded prolifically - and consistently well -- between 1955 and 1970, mostly (and most substantially) for Blue Note. But health and financial problems severely curtailed his playing during the last decade and a half of his life.Mobley ...