2007 · Album
Midnight Waltz
Recorded 2005 · Venus Records (Japan) · Produced by Unverified — details omitted
Cedar Still Has Plenty to Say
Walton plays with the relaxed confidence of someone who has nothing left to prove.
By 2005, Cedar Walton had been one of the most dependable pianists in hard bop for decades — a guy whose name you'd find in the credits of essential records by Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, and Hank Mobley. Midnight Waltz (2005) came out on Venus, a Japanese label that has a knack for getting American jazz veterans into the studio and letting them play with minimal fuss. The result here is exactly what you'd want from Walton at this stage: a piano trio record that leans into his strengths — clean lines, a blues sensibility that never feels forced, and a swing feel that sounds genuinely easy even when it isn't.
The album title nods, almost certainly intentionally, to Walton's own surname, and there's a warmth and looseness to the whole thing that matches that kind of after-hours mood. Walton doesn't try to reinvent anything. He picks tunes he clearly loves, plays them at comfortable tempos, and trusts his sidemen to hold things up — which they do. This is the kind of record where the piano trio format is treated as a conversation rather than a showcase, and Walton is a generous enough player to make that work.
Is this a record that's going to change anyone's mind about Cedar Walton? Probably not. If you already know and like him, you'll enjoy this a lot. If you're new to him, this is actually a decent place to start — it's accessible without being dumbed down. The Venus label recordings can sometimes feel a little sterile in their production, but the playing here keeps things warm enough that it doesn't really matter. Solid, honest jazz piano from someone who genuinely knows what he's doing.
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