Regarded highly by aficionados for his adventurous style, jazz pianist Cedar Walton accompanied many of the major players in the genre, led his own bands and wrote several popular modern jazz songs that entered the jazz canon. He played a formative role in the development of the hard-driving blues-style jazz known as hard bop but was a master of all forms. He appeared on more than 60 albums over a long career and made regular appearances at top jazz clubs including Ronnie Scott's in London.
Born in Texas, he learned to play the piano from his mother and after attending the University of Denver and serving in the U.S. Army he moved to New York to pursue a career in music. He played with trombonist JJ Johnson, trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson and in 1958 made his recording debut on trumpeter Kenny Dorham's album 'This Is the Moment'.
In 1961, he joined drummer Art Blakey's influential combo Jazz Messengers with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Sharp and full of zest, Blakey's style welcomed invention and Walton made lyrical contributions with his tunes 'Mosaic' and 'Ugetsu', which became standards. He accompanied singer Abbey Lincoln for a year, played on recordings with trumpeter Lee Morgan, and released four albums on the Prestige jazz label: 'Cedar!', 'Spectrum', 'The Electric Boogaloo Song' and 'Soul Cycle'.
Walton led his own aggregation called Eastern Rebellion with variably Clifford Jordan, George Coleman or Bob Berg on saxophone, Sam Jones on bass, and Billy Higgins on percussion. Walton died at his New York home aged 79 but labels have continued to issue recordings that feature his piano including High Note's 2017 album 'Cedar Walton: Charmed Circle'.
