CEDAR WALTON: BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Jazz pianist Cedar Walton is doing what he loves to do . . . “twice.”

He leads his trio, and with that trio accompanies great jazz artists like trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and vibists Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson. He calls it “the best of both worlds--I can’t imagine a more rewarding life.”

Walton’s long-standing threesome--drummer Billy Higgins and bassist David Williams--travels regularly throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. “The trio is my main interest at hand,” he said in a phone conversation from a tour stop in San Francisco, “simply because that’s where I get to express myself.

“But I love accompanying, too,” said Walton. “I can’t imagine what it’s like not to, since piano is an accompanying instrument. It’s very natural to me.”

The pianist--who accompanied Dexter Gordon in one scene in the film, “ ‘Round Midnight,” and who supported saxophonists Frank Morgan and Red Holloway and vibist Dave Pike on recent recording sessions--will expand his trio to a quartet, featuring Morgan, when he plays the Palace Court tonight and Friday.

Walton is also a composer (“Ugetsu,” “Mosaic,” “Bolivia” and “Mode For Joe” have become jazz standards) and an arranger. It’s this latter gift for organization that gives his small group presentations a singular spark, and the sound of a much larger ensemble.

“I’ve always tried to combine crisp, clear, interesting ensemble playing with improvised sections, though not necessarily in that order,” he said. “A good combination of those elements provides a format that is everything but predictable.”

To keep listeners involved, Walton’s music “has rendezvous built in where we meet and then we go back to the improvisations, and then there’s another rendezvous coming up. This style gives you a sense of union and of freedom, and it makes playing, and we hope listening, so much more pleasurable.”

And while Walton still enjoys writing, a lot of his ideas aren’t expressed on paper. “In a trio you don’t have to write as much as you have to do ,” he explained. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, man, dig this!’ and then play something. If you call that writing, I’m writing all the time.”

Practice is another aspect that the mainstream-minded Walton--who cites Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum and Bud Powell as prime inspirations--approaches uniquely. “I play better if I warm up, which is not exactly practicing.

“But to sit down and play for an hour helps me more than anything else. Anytime during the day. If it’s noon and I go on that night, I can feel it helping.”

A native of Dallas, Tex., Walton was working with notables like J.J. Johnson and the Benny Golson-Art Farmer Jazztet soon after his arrival in New York City in 1955. From 1961-64, the pianist was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, along with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. And there were plenty of free-lance jobs, too, from record dates with John Coltrane and trumpeter Lee Morgan to one-time-only all-star sessions.

“The time that (Coltrane) hired Wayne, Freddie and me on a gig with (bassist) George Tucker and (drummer) Elvin Jones at at (famed jazz nightclub) Birdland was particularly memorable,” Walton said with his usual gusto. “Just one Monday night. That was great. Those situations are priceless in our dossier.”

Walton, whose latest trio LPs are on the European-based Red and Timeless labels, acknowledges that he has been fortunate to have worked steadily with the best in his business. But there’s a reason, he feels. “When you are sought out, or have the ear, of your peers who have proved themselves, you don’t have any problem (working).