Quick Decisions, On and Off Piano, Are Walton Trademark

Cedar Walton is a man who can think fast. The pianist’s solos are chock-full of colorful, ear-pleasing musical ideas that he concocts at the drop of a beat.

But quick decisions by the acoustic jazz veteran--he has played with drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and trombonist J. J. Johnson and has led his own trio behind such notables as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and vibist Milt Jackson--aren’t limited to the keyboard.

For instance, when trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was unable to play in December, 1990, due to an injured lip, producer John Snyder asked Walton if he’d like to make a trio record during the available time.

Walton said yes, but he really wanted to make a quartet album. “I immediately thought: ‘Eastern Rebellion,’ ” he said, referring to the foursome he’s led, though not in name, off and on since 1975. (Previous saxophonists have included George Coleman and Bob Berg.)

“Cedar said to me, ‘Can we ask Ralph to join us?’ ” Snyder recalled, referring to saxophonist Ralph Moore, whom Snyder had hired for the Hubbard date. The album was completed a month later and released as “Bolivia” on Musicmasters Records.

That December afternoon, Walton, bassist David Williams and drummer Billy Higgins--who constitute the pianist’s longstanding trio--and tenor saxophonist Moore recorded seven tunes.

“Ralph had heard the band with Berg, and he knew our concept, knew how we sound,” said Walton, who speaks with a number of inflections, from high and light to deep and resonant. “So we didn’t rehearse; we just talked some things and then went for it.”

Two days later, the musicians came to the studio and recorded four more selections. The result is “Mosaic,” also on Musicmasters Records.

The same quartet, which recently completed a two-month tour of Europe and the Eastern United States plays Tuesday through Sunday at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

“Eastern Rebellion is my passion,” said Walton, 58, sitting in the living room of his West Los Angeles apartment, where a new Steinway B grand piano is the central piece of furniture.

Walton made up the name in 1975, when he was asked to make a record but was still under contract to RCA Victor and couldn’t use his own name. The group, which initially recorded for Timeless, a Dutch label, consisted of Walton, Coleman, Higgins and bassist Sam Jones.

“We were all living in the East, in New York, and we were rebelling against electronics,” Walton explained. He added that the name also refers to the uprising that took place in Ireland in 1916. “So there’s a phonetic kinship with something that real in the minds of many,” he said.

The pianist said the key goal in Eastern Rebellion, and in his trio as well, is to maintain interest for both the musicians and the audience. He tries to achieve this with arrangements and orchestrations, alternating sections that are written with sections that spotlight improvisations.

“My conscious intention is to make sure that the listener wouldn’t be able to predict what would happen next,” he said. “You know, ‘Well, here’s the melody; now here comes the sax solo, piano solo, drum solo.’ I’d rather die than do that,” he said, breaking into a raucous laugh.

The clean, almost effortless manner in which Walton and his colleagues deliver his music may make it seem simple and unchallenging, but although “it sounds easy on the surface,” he said, “the way we wanted to play these pieces took some thinking.” He added that it’s especially demanding for the horn player, who has to stand in front of the band and remember where the written passages come in, since Walton employs no music on the bandstand. “He has to recognize his cues aurally. There’s no one conducting.”

Walton feels that almost all jazz artists would be better off with this concept. “I’d like to think a soloist would use these devices, these written parts, to enhance a performance until such time that he feels strong enough to just get out there and play,” he said. “Some artists can do that, like Sonny Rollins. He can just come out and hit. Arrangements don’t fit his style, which is the epitome of jazz.

“But the rest of us--Miles (Davis), Dizzy--in my opinion, need that format.”

Walton described playing with Higgins and Williams, in his trio and behind a horn man such as Moore, this way: “Well, I haven’t been to heaven, but I’d accept this as heaven on earth.” Then he laughed heartily.

The pianist has known Higgins since the late ‘50s. A Los Angeles native, the drummer is one of the finest and most-recorded alive: He’s made hundreds of albums with such artists as saxophonists Ornette Coleman, Jackie McLean and Dexter Gordon, trumpeter Hubbard and pianist Herbie Hancock.

Walton recalled the time when he used to go to the Five Spot jazz club in New York City and hear Higgins, who was an original member of Ornette Coleman’s ground-breaking quartet. “I’d go down there every chance I got.”

He and the drummer have been steady musical partners since 1975, when Walton began leading his own bands.

“He has a style that, shall we say, is custom-built for a pianist,” Walton said. “He has a strong, intense feeling that he delivers immediately. He doesn’t have to warm up. His sound is compact; it’s not loud, yet it sizzles. But it can get loud if he wants.

“And he fits nicely with David. They provide a modern, engaging, swinging beat that’s like a carpet for me. I can fool around, add color to my playing, and count on them to be there.”

Walton grew up in a musical family. His mother taught piano, and his parents were jazz fans who took him as a youngster to hear such artists as Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

He studied music at the University of Denver from 1951 to 1954, then moved to New York City. Drafted into the Army in 1956, he had one of his most memorable experiences in the service.

“I was at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and Duke Ellington came to perform,” Walton began, beaming at the recollection. “My buddy, who was a singer, and I got up the nerve to ask if we could sit in, just do a number with the rhythm section. Duke said”--Walton lowered his voice to mimic the maestro--” ’Go easy on those keys, young man.’

“We played the number; I took a solo; the band even added a finishing phrase. Then Duke walked up to me, and in a joking manner, said, ‘I thought I told you to go easy.’ That’s lasted me until now. I’ll never forget it. It was such a nice thing to say.”

Walton returned to New York in 1958 and began his career in the jazz world. He worked with Blakey, trumpeter Art Farmer and many others before becoming a leader. He’s recorded almost 20 albums under his own name, the latest being “Cedar Walton Plays” on Delos Records.

In recent years, Walton, who has lived in Los Angeles about four years, performs mostly with his ensembles and with the Timeless All-Stars. When he appears in Southern California, it’s usually at the Catalina Bar & Grill. He’s played there with his trio and guest artists, performing originals and jazz standards, on New Year’s Eve in 1988, 1989 and 1991.

Walton is “a great piano player and a great human being,” said Catalina Popescu, owner of the room that bears her name. “His music takes you out of the world and puts you on a different level. I feel like he’s part of my family.”

Walton, who said his schedule has “something nice” on it at least once a month, acknowledged that the jazz world has treated him pretty well.

“I love music as much as anyone, I guess,” he said. “It’s given me the most pleasure of anything I’ve done or thought about doing.”

Cedar Walton plays with Billy Higgins, David Williams and Ralph Moore from Tuesday through Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Two shows each night at 9 and 11. Cover charge $12 Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, $18 Friday and Saturday. Two-drink minimum. Information: (213) 466-2210.