(Enlarge) Jazz writer Eugene Holley praises Cedar Walton’s work on a posthumously released version of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” and says of Walton, “if you want to hear what jazz piano sounds like, you check him out because he’s one of our oracles.” Walton’s show is next to last on the fall lineup of the Montpelier Jazz Series.

Cedar Walton first met some of the giants of jazz not in New York or Chicago, but Denver.

While still a student at the University of Denver, Walton played piano with groups in an after-hours club called Lil's.

"A lot of well-known entertainers -- John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and many others -- came to Lil's to eat and drink after their concerts," he said. "This was in the 1950s and any jazz musician who traveled during that time came to Denver because it was an important stop on the jazz circuit."

Some of the now-greats would sit in with Walton at Lil's, and between sets would talk to him about New York City being a great place for jazz and urge him to move there. When Walton turned 21, he made that move and looked up many of the musicians who passed through Denver and had heard him play.

The now Grammy winner who is also the National Endowment for the Arts' 2010 jazz master, will appear at the Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel on Oct. 30 as part of the center's Fall Jazz Series.

"I enjoy playing there very much because the audience is as about as close as you can get to a stage. It's intimate, and if I have something to say, I can just say it," Walton said.

This month Walton released a new album, "Voices Deep Within," that includes "Dear Ruth," a song he wrote for his mother, his first musical instructor.

According to Walton, when he was a young child growing up in Dallas in the 1930s, his mother, a school teacher and pianist, noticed him spending a lot of time at the piano, trying to play by ear the songs he heard on the radio. She encouraged his interest.

In later years, Walton spent a semester as a classical music major at Dillard University in New Orleans -- training that he said wasn't what he was looking for but nonetheless important to his musical development -- before transferring to Denver and later mixing it up with the masters of jazz at Lil's.

It was at Lil's that Walton first met legendary saxophone player Coltrane, with whom he would later record.

"It was a brief conversation. He was playing with Johnny Hodges and he wasn't famous yet, but he was definitely a perfectionist," Walton recalled. "He and all of the musicians who came through were friendly and were in the audience listening to me, at least I hope they were," he said, laughing.

'Giant Steps'

Shortly after Walton moved to New York, he was drafted into the Army, and during his hitch played with a military jazz ensemble. When Walton returned to New York two years later, his career took off.

He played first with Art Farmer and Benny Golson. Then in 1960, Walton joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

"I stayed with him for three years and we were rarely not playing somewhere here and abroad. The house was always packed when we played. We did a lot of recording too," including Walton's composition, "Mosaic."

When Walton played with the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's friend Miles Davis was often in the room.

"I was a big admirer of Miles, but I never played one note with him. No evil reason, but it just didn't happen," Walton said. "He had his world mapped out and so did I. But he'd come by sometimes to see Art and observe us younger players."

Eugene Holley, a regular contributor to the Village Voice and producer of the 12-part National Public Radio series "Dizzy's Diamonds," has followed Walton's career and said, "He's best known for his composition 'Bolivia,' an up-tempo tune that everybody can get into, but my favorite of his is 'Eastern Rebellion,' with Billy Higgins on drums.

"When Cedar came on the scene in the '50s, he had that rare technique of playing the piano with a bebop and soulful style that you find in the black church. You can hear that bebop element when he played on Coltrane's 'Giant Steps,' a song a lot of people had trouble with it because it's a very complex tune."

Walton confirms it's a tough number. "There were no easy passages for soloists in 'Giant Steps,' so yes, it was difficult and still is."

According to Walton, the "Giant Steps" session he did was recorded in New York, where he and Coltrane lived near each other.

"We were friendly and he'd stop by sometimes, so when Coltrane was about to do the first session for 'Giant Steps,' he selected me to play. I was with J. J. Johnson at the time and we had to travel, so I couldn't finish the set," Walton said. "I naively thought when I returned a month later that I could finish it, but he had pressure on him to finish it before I got back. But all sessions are recorded and mine was released by Atlantic Records a year after Coltrane died (in 1967)."

And at 75, Walton continues to tour.

"He's a jazz master up there with Herbie Hancock and he's the kind of cat that, if you want to hear what jazz piano sounds like, you check him out because he's one of our oracles," Holley said, "He's played in the golden age of jazz, so when young people hear him, they hear someone who's played with the masters and is one."

Cedar Walton performs at the Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Road, in Laurel, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. The show is sold out.

A quarter century of cool

Twenty-five years ago, Richard Zandler, director of the Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, was sitting in his office when a man came in and asked if the center's gallery could be used for jazz concerts.

A month earlier, a jazz performance had been held at the center, the first in a series of jazz events Zandler was considering at the time.

"I asked him to send me a tape, and the next day he came back and dropped it off," Zandler said. "I listened to two bars and I knew right away that he was a phenomenal artist. Then I realized it was (Roger) Buck Hill, and I was so embarrassed that I called him back very apologetic for not recognizing him. He was so kind about it."

Saxophonist Hill had been recording and performing around the world for 40 years at the time. In addition to his own releases, including "Buck Hill Plays Europe" (1982), he'd recorded with guitarist Charlie Byrd, Allen Houser and Shirley Horn. Hill grew up in Washington, D.C., and was well-known on the U Street jazz corridor in the 1940s. By 1984, he was still performing around the country, Europe and elsewhere and living in Laurel on Route 197.

"I was always looking for places to work, and that's what I was doing that day," Hill said, referring to his meeting with Zandler.

Realizing what a gem he had so close by, Zandler immediately recruited Hill to help him establish the Montpelier Jazz Series. When it debuted 25 years ago, it was called Chamber Jazz and featured live jazz performances three times a year in the center's main gallery.

"When we started, it was a tough time for jazz because a lot of jazz clubs downtown had closed, and we filled a niche. Buck, Charlie Byrd and Keeter Betz were our core musicians that we had performing all the time, along with local artists, initially, then we went international," Zandler said.

Jazz legends such as McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton and Dick Morgan have all performed on the 120-seat gallery's raised stage beneath its cedar cathedral ceiling on numerous occasions for the series.

"It became a great thing that the people loved, and the atmosphere and acoustics at Montpelier are so great," the 82-year-old Hill said.

The series became so popular that it was extended several times, and now seven concerts each are held in the fall and spring.

"The series has worked out real well and has kept a lot of musicians working," said Hill, whose band headlined this year's fall series opener Sept. 25.

Many of those who attended the show are regulars of the series, such as Howard Stone of Mitchellville, who has been coming for four years.

"This is a great venue to hear jazz and is the best kept secret in Prince George's County," Stone said. "I'm afraid to tell other people because I might not get tickets."

The final show in the Fall series is Nov. 13, featuring the Steve Abshire Quartet. All peformances start at 8 p.m.

For more information on the series, go to www.montpelier.arts@pgparks.com

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