It's fair to say that in the 1980s, Japan cared more about high-quality jazz recordings and live performances than the American market. Anyone who frequented record stores in the States then and into the 1990s surely recalls bins of impeccable Japanese reissues of American jazz albums on vinyl and CD. Back then, Japan was riding high, economically, and Japanese companies and individuals who loved jazz deeply had the capital to treat historical re-issues with great care. They even had the good sense to record American jazz musicians exclusively for the Japanese market.
One of those artists was pianist Cedar Walton. In 1988, Los Angeles bassist Pat Senatore (above) teamed up with Japan's Ken Akemoto, a Tokyo-based promoter and businessman, to record the Cedar Walton Trio—featuring Walton on piano, Senatore on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Akemoto was in the States then to record a handful of albums by a range of jazz artists. The studio they chose for the trio session was Mad Hatter Recording Studios at 2635 Griffith Park Blvd. in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1980 by Chick Corea for his production company.
The strategy was to have the Cedar Walton Trio record 20 standards, and the result was The V.I.P. Trio: Standard Album and Standard Album Vol. 2, both on Japan's California Breeze label. The recordings were then sold solely in Japan. Now, they are available as The V.I.P. Trio: Standards and Standards Vol. 2 from Fresh Sound. They've undergone 24-bit digital remastering in Hollywood and sound fantastic.
Volume 1 features Billy Taylor's Easy Walker, Autumn Leaves, Summertime, Body and Soul, Softly As a Morning Sunrise, It Might as Well Be Spring, Early Autumn, The Shadow of Your Smile, Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin's If I Should Lose You and I Didn't Know What Time It Is.
Volume 2 features But Beautiful, Donald Kahn and Stanley Styne's Beautiful Friendship, Spring Is Here, Fly Me to the Moon, Autumn in New York, Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa, Prelude to a Kiss, The Song Is You, What's New and Antonio Carlos Jobim's Triste.
Walton, a hard-bop veteran who came up playing behind horns, has a heavy hand throughout, but he gives each of these songs a mighty, majestic feel. In the process, songs such as Early Autumn, The Shadow of Your Smile and even But Beautiful assume new brash identities. By applying his robust style to these standards, Walton wisely was able to avoid sounding like a lounge pianist on such material. At times, one hears Erroll Garner and Hampton Hawes in Walton's approach, and his technique remains remarkable. Senatore keeps firm, smart time throughout, and Higgins' drums frame Walton perfectly, without intrusion.
Bassist Pat Senatore first recorded with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1961. His studio albums that year with Kenton included Adventures In Jazz, Adventures In Standards and Adventures In Blues. He then joined Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass in 1962.
Billy Higgins played extensively with Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane in the 1960s as well as Sonny Clark, Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean and many others.
It's gratifying that Jordi Pujol of Fresh Sound went to such great lengths to revive and restore the Cedar Walton Trio albums in the digital age. The albums sound as if the trio is playing in your room.
Cedar Walton died in 2013, Billy Higgins died in 2001. Pat Senatore is still with us.
To read my JazzWax interview with Cedar Walton on Giant Steps, go here.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The V.I.P. Trio: Standards here and here, and Vol. 2 here and here.
JazzWax clips: Here's The Shadow of Your Smile from Standards...
And here's Autumn in New York from Standards Vol. 2...
