Walton and Friends Salute the Standards

The gathering of jazz musicians at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Fine Arts Complex on Sunday afternoon was a family-like affair as a half-dozen instrumentalists and vocalists--led by pianist Cedar Walton--found common ground in the shared language of jazz standards.

Headliner Walton’s engaging solo style was aired early on in the company of bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. An uptempo arrangement of Rodgers and Hart’s “My Heart Stood Still” and Johnny Mandel’s ballad “Emily” gave the pianist plenty of time to develop inspired melodic and harmonic ideas. But only snatches of his improvisational wit followed during brief spots on numbers featuring other artists.

Backed by Walton’s trio, vocalist Carmen Bradford was the afternoon’s standout, delivering blues, ballads and swing numbers with her characteristic enthusiasm and craft. Bradford, who spent most of the ‘80s touring with the Count Basie Orchestra, worked with a bit more edge in her voice than in the past, but it only served to heighten the attractiveness of her sound, especially in upbeat numbers, during her brief encounter.

Brevity proved to be the concert’s principal flaw. Frequently, there was too little of a good thing: too few numbers from the trio of Walton, Clayton and Hamilton; too few songs from Bradford; too few collaborations between Bradford and singer Ernie Andrews. Though the well-received afternoon show delivered more than an hour of music, each participant got only fleeting moments in the spotlight.

Vocalist Ernie Andrews, acknowledging that Bradford was a tough act to follow, worked with his usual warmth and mischievousness, managing to make even the unlikely James Taylor number “Fire & Rain” swing with spirit. Working in tandem, Andrews and Bradford coaxed and cajoled each other in the kind of good-natured exchange typical of Burns and Allen.

Saxophonist Harold Land was the only participant not quite contributing to the common good. Though delivering strong, emotional solos during his features (“The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Nature Boy”), he was tentative and sometimes out of place playing behind the vocalists. The six performers, called back for an unscheduled encore, underscored their resourcefulness with a spontaneous blues that featured improvised lyrics from Bradford and Andrews.