Cedar Walton
Piano Solo on
Hot Water

About

Cedar Walton opens with five choruses on piano, the first of two solos, followed by Clifford Jordan on tenor sax. Taken at an up-tempo swing tempo of 188 BPM over the 12-bar Blues in B♭, the improvisation flows with assured, relaxed momentum. "Hot Water" is a blues from Clifford Jordan's 1960 Riverside album Spellbound, featuring an unusual solo order with pianist Cedar Walton opening the improvisation. Recorded for the album Spellbound in 1960, the performance captures Cedar Walton at 25 to 26 years old. Walton's five choruses over the 12-bar blues in B-flat establish a high level of musical discourse, his blues vocabulary enriched by sophisticated harmonic substitutions and rhythmic variety.

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