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CMU Reviews @ London Jazz Festival Festival Reviews
Live Review: Cedar Walton at London Jazz Festival on 15 Nov
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 16 November 2010
Pianist Cedar Walton is technically excellent, and wisely selected some of the best jazz from the last fifty years for this show – the set included songs from the likes of Freddie Hubbard and Sonny Rollins – as well as presenting his own original compositions.
The potential of Walton’s abilities was immediately apparent on the opening tune, ‘Cedar’s Blues’, in which he moved round the keys with ease and quickly attracted admiring applause, but that level of energy wasn’t sustained and the middle part of the two sets on offer passed without much sparkle.
But at the end of the first half there was another brilliant solo from Cedar, as well as a great performance from Italian tenor saxophonist Piero Odorici on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Another Star’. The bassist Daryl Hall was decent throughout and really shone on ‘The Holy Land’ towards the end of the second set, while the young drummer Willy Jones III, when finally let loose at the end of the gig, didn’t fail to deliver.
There was easily enough to enjoy from the quartet here, and it was a privilege to spend an evening listening to a pianist with such a radiant past; though a bit of a shame that the majority of this gig was very much ‘on the leash’.
