R.I.P. Cedar Walton (1934-2013).

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Ian Mann on the passing of pianist and composer Cedar Walton who died on August 19th 2013.

I was saddened to hear of the recent death, after a short illiness, of the great American pianist and composer Cedar Walton.

I was lucky enough to see Walton perform live twice, once at Cheltenham Jazz Festival in the late 1990’s and more recently at Ronnie Scott’s as part of the 2010 London Jazz Festival. I remember the latter as an excellent quartet performance with Walton accompanied by Italian tenor saxophonist Piero Odorici plus the American rhythm team of Darryl Hall (bass) and Willie Jones III (drums). Walton was in particularly sparkling form and showed no signs of frailty, hence the recent news came as something of a shock.

Walton leaves behind him a rich recorded and compositional legacy with several of his tunes becoming modern standards, among them “Bolivia”, “Firm Roots”, “Cedar’s Blues” and “Fantasy In D” (sometimes known by its alternative title of “Ugetsu”).

Rest In Peace, Cedar and thank you for the music and the memories.