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Cedar Walton


Uncle Skid

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I've been on a Cedar Walton kick lately, and I'm really enjoying everything I'm hearing so far. I first came across his playing on some of his appearances with Lee Morgan, and then after hearing David Hazeltine (who seems to be influenced by Cedar), I've been looking for more of Cedar's recordings.

So far, I've been listening to:

Cedar Walton: Manhattan Afternoon, Cedar!, Plays Cedar Walton, and The Promise Land

Lee Morgan: Sonic Boom, Charisma

Art Blakey: Indestructible, Ugetsu

After looking at AMG's Discography and "Appears On" list, it's difficult to figure out where to go next. Any recommendations? Is Cedar still actively recording and/or touring?

Although it appears to be somewhat obscure, Dexter Gordon's Gotham City may be next on the list, as it was recommended by a guitar instructor -- George Benson on guitar, plus Cedar on piano.

Thanks in advance!

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I'm not the best at knowing who played on what albums, so I was looking at Cedar Walton on AMG and found he's on some of my favorite albums:

John Coltrane GIANT STEPS

Sonny Criss UP, UP, & AWAY

Dexter Gordon TANGERINE

Joe Henderson MODE FOR JOE

Milt Jackson OLINGA

Clifford Jordan GLASS BEAD GAMES

I also have his album ANIMATION, which gets a low rating on AMG but I think it has some cool moments.

Edited for a repeat

Edited by Noj
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Here's a few I can recommend

Art Blakey Buhaina's Delight

Art Blakey Mosaic

Art Blakey Pisces

Art Blakey Caravan

Art Blakey Three Blind Mice

Art Blakey Ugetsu

Art Blakey Free for All

Art Blakey Indestructible

Art Blakey Child's Dance

Art Blakey Anthenagin

Art Blakey Indestructible

Donald Byrd Blackjack

Donald Byrd Slow Drag

Eastern Rebellion Volume 1

Dexter Gordon Generation

Dexter Gordon Tangerine

Steve Grossman Love Is the Thing

Jimmy Heath Quota

Jimmy Heath Triple Threat

Joe Henderson Mode for Joe

Freddie Hubbard Here to Stay

Freddie Hubbard Hub Cap

Freddie Hubbard Body & the Soul

Philly Joe Jones Drum Songs

Sam Jones Something in Common

Clifford Jordan Starting Time

Blue Mitchell Out of the Blue

Blue Mitchell Cup Bearers

Blue Mitchell Boss Horn

Lee Morgan Charisma

Lee Morgan Sixth Sense

Lee Morgan Sonic Boom

Lee Morgan Caramba!

Woody Shaw Setting Standards

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I didn't realize that he is on Coltrane's Giant Steps -- I hate to admit it, but I don't own that one yet.

BUY that CD! :) Walton was not part of the original LP, but he played on alternate versions of two of the songs from it (the Rhino CD includes 8 bonus tracks).

FWIW, here's a selected C.W. discography:

J. J. Johnson- The Complete Columbia J. J. Johnson Small Group Sessions

Kenny Dorham- Blue Spring

Jimmy Heath- Really Big

Clifford Jordan- Spellbound

The Jazztet- Big City Sounds

Benny Golson- Take A Number From One To Ten / Free

The Jazztet- The Jazztet And John Lewis

Jimmy Heath- The Quota

Clifford Jordan- Mosaic (A Story Tale / Starting Time)

The Jazztet- At Birdhouse

Sonny Red- Red, Blue & Green (The Mode / Images)

Curtis Fuller- Soul Trombone (The Jazz Clan)

Clifford Jordan- Bearcat

Jimmy Heath- Triple Threat

Art Blakey- Three Blind Mice, Vol. 1

Blue Mitchell- The Cup Bearers

Art Blakey- Caravan

Donald Byrd- Blackjack

Art Blakey- Ugetsu

Blue Mitchell- The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Blue Mitchell, 1963 to 1967

Art Blakey- Golden Boy

Milt Jackson- Jazz 'Round Midnight

Eddie Harris- Cool Sax, Warm Heart / Cool Sax From Hollywood To Broadway

Lee Morgan- Charisma

Lee Morgan- The Rajah

Eddie Harris- The Tender Storm

Milt Jackson- Born Free

Art Farmer- Plays Great Jazz Hits

Donald Byrd- Slow Drag

Cedar Walton- Cedar!

Pat Martino- Strings!

Cedar Walton- Spectrum / (The Electric Boogaloo Song)

Stanley Turrentine- Another Story

Sonny Red- Sonny Red (on Mainstream)

Art Farmer- Gentle Eyes

Art Farmer- Homecoming

Dexter Gordon- Tangerine

Dexter Gordon- Generation

Cedar Walton - Naima

Milt Jackson- Goodbye

Art Farmer- To Duke With Love

Clifford Jordan- Firm Roots

Art Farmer- Yesterday's Thoughts

Milt Jackson- Centerpiece (Live at The Kosei Nenkin, Vol. 2)

Milt Jackson- At The Kosei Nenkin (Vol. 1)

Art Farmer- The Summer Knows

Clifford Jordan / Cedar Walton- The Pentagon

Philly Joe Jones- Drum Songs (Advance / Drum Song)

Dexter Gordon- Gotham City

Junior Cook- Something's Cookin'

Cedar Walton- Among Friends

Slide Hampton Quintet- Roots

Dexter Gordon- Round Midnight (Film Soundtrack)

Dexter Gordon- The Other Side Of Round Midnight

Frank Morgan- Lament

Cedar Walton (Sweet Basil Trio)- St. Thomas

Kenny Burrell- Sunup To Sundown

Stanley Turrentine- More Than A Mood

Cedar Walton- Live At Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 25

Cedar Walton- Manhattan Afternoon

Milt Jackson- Reverence And Compassion

Cedar Walton (Sweet Basil Trio)- You're My Everything

Milt Jackson- The Prophet Speaks

Dave Young- (w/Oscar Peterson,Cedar Walton,Tommy Flanagan,John Hicks, Mulgrew Miller) Two By Two

Eric Alexander- Man With A Horn

Edited by Jim R
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I've got three Cedar Walton-led sessions on cd.

You've gotta get, "Cedar!" on OJC and "Naima" on 32jazz label. As I mentioned in another thread, you can get the latter cd for only $5 on half.com (at least, last time I checked.)

You will NOT be disappointed.

I love Cedar too. I've got a bunch of stuff where he is a sideman as well. He rarely disapponts.

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No mention of his album THE COMPOSER from 1996 with Ralph Moore, Vincent Herring, et al.? I'd recommend it.

I entered this thread to recommend "The Composer", but looks like I got beat to it! Its a great album, and even though its out of print, it can still be found quite easily online. It features some great new Walton compositions. It also features Roy Hargrove, Victor Lewis, and Christian McBride in addition to the players David already named.

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Jim's list is pretty impressive!

Some very good albums there! The Jazztet plays John Lewis is great, Naima is (as has been said), and several others I like a lot, such as: Cliff Jordan, Mosaic; the Sonny Red twofer, all that Blakey stuff (dig the Walton solo on the opening track of Free for All!), the Eddie Harris Atlantic albums (four of them were collected in a very nice 2CD package by 32jazz)...

The man was all over the place!

He provides some of the highlights of Morgan's Rajah, in my opinion.

ubu

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I've always enjoyed Walton's playing on two very under-rated Lee Morgan albums - 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Caramba', where he contributes much to the modal groove of these albums and gets in some fine solos. Walton always sounded good on Lee Morgan sessions.

I'll add to that, just that he always sounded GOOD.

No one has singled out Breakthru. I think it's a great record as well as being Hank's Last Stand! I also really like the Prestige sides, Cedar and Plays Cedar Walton Skid mentions up above.

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There's a group that he played with for a period of time that consistently put out great albums - "The Magic Triangle". They consisted of Clifford Jordan, Cedar, Sam Jones & Billy Higgins. So it's basically the same as the "Eastern Rebellion" albums, but with Jordan on tenor.

Keep an eye out for:


  • Night of the Mark 7
  • Firm Roots
  • Highest Mountain
  • On Stage, Vol. 1-3

I would also recommend Sam Jones' "Something In Common" which has been mentioned earlier, too.

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I forgot to mention that he just played at Yoshi's last week in a show entitled "Tribute to Art Blakey". Here's the lineup and blurb from the website:

Cedar Walton - piano

Eddie Henderson - trumpet

Bobby Watson - alto saxophone

Curtis Fuller - trombone

Kenny Washington - drums

David Williams - bass

Now this is a supergroup! Assembled exclusively for Yoshi's by Artistic Director Peter Williams. The group is paying tribute to the great drummer Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers groups. Blakey was one of the most influential and legendary drummers in jazz history. Blakey created one of the most exciting and distinctive bands in the history of jazz. Walton is best known for his work with Art Blakey and his numerous compositions for the Jazz Messengers, including "Bolivia," "Mosaic, and "Fantasy in D." Walton is considered one of the most influential jazz pianists and composers in jazz history. Walton and Fuller played with Blakey from 1961 - 1965 and Watson played with Blakey from 1977 -1981.

Looking back over this, I'm not sure what I was thinking by NOT going. :o:(

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Wow - would have really liked to see that !! :excited: Now if only they would ship these guys over to Europe for a week or three..

Another Cedar recommendation... How about the album 'Strings' put out by Pat Martino on Prestige in the late 60s. A seriously groovin session with Cedar doing his usual stuff and Joe Farrell completing the quartet. A particularly nice version of 'Minority' on this one. Recommended for anyone who likes Cedar's 'Cedar!' and 'Spectrum' albums.

:rsmile:

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Another Cedar recommendation... How about the album 'Strings' put out by Pat Martino on Prestige in the late 60s. A seriously groovin session with Cedar doing his usual stuff and Joe Farrell completing the quartet. A particularly nice version of 'Minority' on this one.

Yeah. That's a great album. I just recently discovered it myself. Some really nice Joe Farrell there, as well. :tup

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Sonny Criss's 'Up, Up and Away' is another example.

He's on that, too?

You're right - it's a KILLER!

Actually, looking at Jim R's list, I see that he's on those great Jimmy Heath albums and also Blue Mitchell's "Cup Bearers" - great stuff.

Somehow I didn't realize that he was on all of those.

Edited by BFrank
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Cedar Walton did an amazing job, backing Etta James, a few years ago on her "Mystery Lady" collection. It was her take on some of Billie's hits and I like it very much, though I was skeptical and almost didn't buy it. When I saw that Cedar had agreed to do this with Etta, that convinced me. Glad I snapped it up.

Etta doesn't "do" Billie, so much as interpret her and that was very wise of her.

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Wow! Thanks for all the recommendations and information on Cedar! The Composer has moved up to the top of my list, with quite a few others added as well. At this rate, I'll need a second mortgage to finance my music purchases!

Another disc that looks interesting is Roots, recorded a year after The Composer, in 1997. Any thoughts on this one?

It's good to know that he's still touring -- according to AMG, Mr. Walton's 70th birthday is coming up in January. :party:

The sessions with the vocalists (Etta, Abbey Lincoln) also look interesting -- my wife is much more inclined to listen to jazz if someone is singing. This way, I can sneak a little Cedar into the mix! ;)

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