Cedar Walton, RIP

[Ted O'Reilly]

"And I'm guilty in this case, too. I do not own, nor have I heard (in fact, have not even heard of it) the Tale of the Fingers CD you mentioned."

It's a good one -- see if you can search it out.

I accept your description of 'obscure': too bad that so many people think jazz only happens in the US, or the UK....

Edited August 22, 2013 by Ted O'Reilly

[John Tapscott]

"And I'm guilty in this case, too. I do not own, nor have I heard (in fact, have not even heard of it) the Tale of the Fingers CD you mentioned."

It's a good one -- see if you can search it out.

I accept your description of 'obscure': too bad that so many people think jazz only happens in the US, or the UK....

Found a used copy of Tale of the Fingers on amazon marketplace for $3.99 (the value of my music collection declines daily!) plus shipping. Ordered it.

[Mike Schwartz]

A list of some of Cedar's original compositions borrowed from Mike LeDonne's FB page

Bolivia, Firm Roots, Cedar's Blues, Simple Pleasures, Martha's Prize, Dear Ruth, Hindsight, Turquoise, Iron Clad, Rubber Man, Ojos De Rojo, Fiesta Espanol, NPS, Shoulders, Sixth Avenue, Newest Blues, Voices Deep Within, One For Amos, Ugetsu, Something In Common, Mosaic

[Cyril]

A list of some of Cedar's original compositions borrowed from Mike LeDonne's FB page

Bolivia, Firm Roots, Cedar's Blues, Simple Pleasures, Martha's Prize, Dear Ruth, Hindsight, Turquoise, Iron Clad, Rubber Man, Ojos De Rojo, Fiesta Espanol, NPS, Shoulders, Sixth Avenue, Newest Blues, Voices Deep Within, One For Amos, Ugetsu, Something In Common, Mosaic

I'll add: Fantasy In D, The Maestro, Sunday Suite, Clockwise and Mode for Joe.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Cyril

[Matt]

I just heard this sad news. R.I.P.

[ValerieB]

I guess i'm one of the very fortunate ones: I couldn't count the number of times I have seen/heard Cedar in person starting from the early '60s until 2010. I was looking forward to adding to my fortune as he was scheduled to appear on The Jazz Cruise for a week next January. Benny Green will lead his group for the Cruise. R.I.P. Cedar.

[Peter Friedman]

Add these two obscurities with Canadian bassist Dave Young (but both are very good)

John, you're right that they're both very good, but I'm not sure I'd call any release 'obscure' with those musicians contributing, to say nothing of the fact that I wrote the liner notes for Volume One! (There's also a Volume Two, which doesn't include Cedar but does have Ellis Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Oliver Jones, Kenny Barron, Barry Harris and Renee Rosnes as pianists with Dave on bass.

Cedar is a particular favourite of Young, 'cause there's yet another trio release not yet noted: "Tale Of The Fingers" (Justin Time JUST 143-2) with Cedar, Dave Young and drummer Barry Elmes, recorded in Toronto on Feb. 24 & 25, 2000. It features two of Cedar's compositions: Bremond's Blues and A Bell For Bags. It's a terrific 'groove' album, and I recommend it highly...Edited to add that the duo releases are all on Justin Time, and Walton's NPS is one of the three tracks Young and he recorded for the duet project.

Ted, yes Tale Of The Fingers is a good one as are the two Dave Young Duo CDs.

[Justin V]

I just looked through his credits on allmusic and was surprised to find that I own 16 albums with Cedar Walton as a sideman, which is just a drop in the bucket. However, unless you count Eastern Rebellion's Mosaic, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I only own one of his leader dates, Composer, which I just picked up this week. After hearing Composer, I'm really looking forward to hearing more of his leader dates.

EDIT: No 'The' in the album title

Edited August 28, 2013 by Justin V

[marcello]

You can't go wrong with this one:

[Mike Schwartz]

You can't go wrong with this one:

I'll be playing from this one (among others) on the program tomorrow

[JSngry]

It's taken me a few days to really absorb this loss. Not really pain, but...Cedar Walton was one of those cats who was always there, so much that it got easy to take it for granted that he always will be there. And now, no, he won't be. Weird...

And to that point, unless one is genetically predisposed to reject such things like an organ submitted by an unsuitable donor, Walton's two late-70s Columbia albums are worthy of a listen or two, or with enough space in between, three or four.

They're also unabashedly "commercial" but in no way "generic" or even "sellout"s. I take it as a credit that this was a man who could tailor his music for explicitly-intended wider consumption when the opportunity arose and still speak in his own voice while so doing.

Ok, weak lyrics, but here's a tune that could easily be shifted around just a little into a perfectly fine "straight-ahead" piece and there was money in the pocket. Problem? No,not really.

Some people would get a deal like this and do total bullshit, put on a mask, take the money, run, and then claim that they were a victim of circumstance. Possibly/probably even more would run away from the challenge/opportunity in the name of "staying pure". But Cedar Walton said, ok, give me a budget to do what you want. I got some music.My music.

And that's the thing - Cedar Walton always had some music.His music.

So yeah, this is a loss. Not just anybody can do that.

[AvantHard]

RIP Cedar !

I went to see Jimmy Cobb trio the other night at the Vanguard, Mr. Cobb talked deeply about the loss of Cedar and they played a couple of his compositions.. very moving.

[sidewinder]

Brian Priestley has contributed this obituary for Cedar in today's Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/cedar-walton-pianist-and-bandleader-who-played-with-coltrane-8807296.html