Where do you listen?
Choose your streaming service
inside the sleeve
Loading…
inside the sleeveITS
⌕
Read About

♫

Facts
Connections
Read more

Discography

Collaborations

Live on Youtube

Explore Further

Selected connections
1990 · Album

As Long as There's Music

↑ Cedar Walton

Cedar Walton Playing It Straight and Smart

Walton makes piano trio jazz sound easy, which means he's working very hard.

If you want a good entry point into Cedar Walton's playing, As Long as There's Music (1993) is a reasonable place to start. Recorded in 1990 and held back a few years before the Muse label put it out, it catches Walton in a comfortable, unhurried mode — a seasoned hard bop pianist who knows exactly what he wants to do and doesn't waste time proving it. This isn't a stretch album or an experiment. It's Walton doing what he did well: swinging through standards and originals with a steady, warm touch and a sense of swing that never feels forced. The trio format suits him perfectly, and the interplay throughout is the kind of thing that only comes from musicians who have been doing this long enough to stop trying too hard.

Who's playing
David Williamsdouble bass
Cedar Waltonpiano
Jesse Davisalto saxophone
Terence Blanchardtrumpet
Billy Higginsdrums
Listen next
By Cedar Walton
Eastern Rebellion 1975
♫
Billy Higgins's own record
The Oracle 1989
Billy Higgins plays drums (drum set) here
More Hard Bop
Standard Time Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling 1991
Wynton Marsalis
Recording Info
Track listing
1Young and Foolish6:01
2Meaning of the Blues9:24
3I'm Not So Sure6:01
4Ground Work6:25
5Newest Blues5:39
6Pannonica8:57
7As Long as There's Music6:27
8Voices Deep Within9:38
Musicians
Further Reading
Read more

Where next?

More by Cedar Walton
Eastern Rebellion 1975
This Is for You John 1987
Eastern Rebellion 2 1975
♫
Spectrum 1968
All 42 albums →
The musicians on this record
♫
The Oracle 1989
Billy Higgins
plays drums (drum set) here
The Malcolm X Jazz Suite 1993
Terence Blanchard
plays trumpet here
Their own records, close in time
More Hard Bop
Standard Time Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling 1991
Wynton Marsalis
Gettin' To It 1994
Christian McBride
This Is Jazz 1997
Art Blakey
Habana 1997
Roy Hargrove
All 151 Hard Bop artists →

More by this artist

Albums with the same musicians

From the same era

Similar artists

inside the sleeve
Growing
Jazz, explained without pretension.
Read · Follow the connections · Press play
Right now: 7,100+ albums · 440+ artists
Start here
New to jazz? These artists are good places to start.
Loading…
Explore
Nine records worth getting lost in.
Born today
Album of the day
A landmark record, every day.
Read
  • Loading…
Article archive →
Recently added
Purpose
Inside the Sleeve is your companion on a journey through jazz — not a textbook, but something closer to a knowledgeable friend sitting next to you while you listen. Read about an artist, press play, follow a connection, discover an album you didn't know you needed.
Suggestions
Read

Articles

Essays, guides, and lists about jazz and the records that matter.

Loading…

Genre

Key Artists
Further Reading

Essential Albums

Related Genres

In This Genre

About

Inside the Sleeve

Work in progress

Inside the Sleeve grows continuously — new artists and albums are added, essays refined, as visitors explore and our editors follow up on what they find. Content, features, and design are still evolving; use the Report error button on any page to flag something that seems off.

Content

Every artist, album, and release date on Inside the Sleeve is real — verified against trusted sources including MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. We don't invent discographies or fabricate records. AI compiles that verified information into readable prose — essays on artists, albums, and the music itself. We can't manually review every essay before publishing, but every reported error is checked by a human editor.

Inside the Sleeve is not a review site. We're not here to rate or rank — we're here to guide you in. Where an album stands out, we'll say so. Where an artist changed everything, you'll know why. But we won't tear anything down. Jazz history is complex and sources sometimes disagree — if you spot something that seems off, please report it.

Streaming

Inside the Sleeve links to Spotify and Apple Music so you can listen while you read. These are not affiliate links. For Spotify, links open a search on open.spotify.com — we do not have direct links to specific recordings. For Apple Music, direct links are used where available, otherwise a search is opened.

Your choice of streaming service is stored locally in your browser only. It is never sent to our servers.

We're working on deeper Spotify integration, including direct links to specific recordings.

Privacy

Inside the Sleeve does not collect personal data and does not use cookies. We count page visits anonymously using a self-hosted analytics tool — no personal identifiers are stored, and the data never leaves our own server. The only preference stored on your device is your streaming service choice, saved locally in your browser and never transmitted.

When you submit a suggestion or error report, the text you write is stored in our database. No name or email is required or collected unless you choose to provide one.

Third-party services

Spotify and Apple Music are independent services with their own terms of use and privacy policies. Inside the Sleeve is not affiliated with or endorsed by either company.

Support

Inside the Sleeve is free and ad-free. If you enjoy it, a coffee helps cover server costs and keeps the project going.

Amazon

Some book recommendations on Inside the Sleeve link to Amazon. Buying through these links costs you nothing extra — but Amazon pays us a small commission, which goes directly towards keeping the site running. It's a simple way to support the project if you were going to buy the book anyway.

As an Amazon Associate, Inside the Sleeve earns from qualifying purchases.

Questions or feedback? Use the suggestion box on the front page.

Inside the Sleeve — A guide for those who want to go beyond the obvious About & Privacy