Cedar Walton
Piano Solo on
Lush Life

About

Cedar Walton follows Clifford Jordan with a single chorus on piano, completing the solo section. Taken at a medium-up swing tempo of 171 BPM over the 26-bar AA' in D♭, the improvisation flows with assured, relaxed momentum. Cedar Walton follows with his own chorus, his piano solo revealing a deep understanding of Strayhorn's complex harmonic language. Recorded for the album Spellbound in 1960, the performance captures Cedar Walton at 25 to 26 years old. Lush Life was composed by Billy Strayhorn, begun when he was just eighteen years old in 1933 and refined over the next several years before being completed around 1936.

Cedar Walton was 25 to 26 years old at the time.