Live in the moment, hard bop intact
Walton's quintet swings without pretense, solos landing exactly where they need to.
When Cedar Walton brought his quintet into the studio in 1985, the intention was straightforward: document what the band sounded like in real time, with all the risk and immediacy that live recording demands. No overdubs, no second takes to fix a missed phrase. What ended up on tape was a quintet firing on all cylinders—Walton at the piano, Buster Williams on bass and the rest of the ensemble locked in tight, the kind of focused interplay you only get when musicians know each other's moves inside out.
The results on Cedar's Blues aren't trying to reinvent anything. Hard bop in 1985 wasn't a new language; Walton had been speaking it for decades. But there's something to be said for a group that knows what it is and commits fully to doing it well. Scott Yanow of AllMusic noted that while the album may not break new ground, "the solos of Walton, Berg and Fuller are consistently satisfying, making this date easily recommended to hard bop collectors." These aren't flashy moments designed to impress—they're substantive improvisations that swing hard and know when to step aside.
For anyone already drawn to Walton's work, this live session sits comfortably in his catalog. It's not a departure or a peak; it's a capable document of a working band at a moment when many of their peers had already moved on. The Italian Red label gave it space to breathe and find an audience among collectors who still valued the idiom. That audience, small as it may be, knew exactly what they were getting.
Who's playing
David Williamsdouble bass
Cedar Waltonpiano
Bob Bergtenor saxophone
Curtis Fullertrombone
Billy Higginsdrums
Where next?
More by Cedar Walton
All 42 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
