Cedar Walton Trio - The Trio 3

180g vinyl - deluxe gatefold sleeve - LP size booklet, limited hand numbered edition - remastered from the original analogue tapes.

Pianist Cedar Walton's original LPs 'The Trio' Volumes 1 &2 are two fine, suave sets from a 1985 live concert. The Volume 3, recorded the next year, finds the Trio sounding even looser and swinging harder. It opens with an easy swinging version of Neal Hefti's 'Girl Talk from Harlow', Cedar Walton's piano playing throughout is utterly relaxed.

Solidly grounded in bop, Walton's choice of material always reflects an eclectic and refined sensibility. 'Fantasy in D (Ugetsu)', a modal Walton original, recalls Coltrane; here the trio sounds loose, joyful, and unforced. 'Ground Work' is a vehicle for drummer Billy Higgins. Fast and friendly, the melody weaves in and out of an extraordinarily musical drum solo in a radical composition cloaked in a conservative harmonic language. The trio swings remarkably well here. Walton's touch is rich and dynamic, his voicings slightly spicy, his solo concise.

Cedar Walton: piano
David Williams: bass
Billy Higgins: drums
Recorded by Giancarlo Barigozzi, Milam, Italy, March 1986