Artist: Cedar Walton

Cedar Walton was an American hard bop jazz  pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and composer. Several of his compositions have become jazz standards, including "Mosaic", "Bolivia", "Holy Land", "Mode for Joe" and "Ugetsu/Fantasy in D". 

Walton was born and grew up in Dallas, Texas, and cited Walton cited Nat King Cole, Bud Powell,  Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum as his major influences on piano. He began emulating these artists' recordings from an early age. 

After briefly attending Dillard University in New Orleans, he entered the University of Denver as a composition major, but was encouraged to switch to a music-education program with the goal of a career in the local public school system. This later proved extremely useful, as he learned to play and arrange for various instruments, a talent he honed with The Jazz Messengers. 

Walton was tempted by the promise of New York City through his associations with John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Richie Powell, whom he met at after-hours sessions around Denver, Colorado. In 1955, he decided to leave school and drove with a friend to New York City. He quickly got recognition from Birdland manager Johnny Garry. 

Walton was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany, cutting short his rising status in the after-hours jazz scene. In the Army he played with musicians Leo Wright, Don Ellis and Eddie Harris. On his discharge after two years, he picked up where he left off, playing as a sideman with Kenny Dorham, on whose 1958 album This Is the moment he made his recording debut. 

He joined the Jazztet led by Benny Golson and Art Farmer and played with them from 1958 to 1961. In the early 1960s Walton joined The Jazz Messengers as a pianist-arranger, where, for the next three years, he wrote and arranged such originals as "Ugetsu" and "Mosaic". 

For a year, he was Abbey Lincoln's accompanist, and recorded with Lee Morgan from 1966 to 1968.