Cedar Walton Sextet
The Art Blakey Legacy,  Evidence CD ECD 22190-2, 1997

 Blakey without Blakey

What a disappointment! This session, live from New York’s Sweet Basil, had everything going for it. Three generations of alumni from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers–Lou Donaldson from the ’50s, Walton from the ’60s, and Phillip Harper and Javon Jackson from the ’80s–playing selections from the band’s repertoire in a salute to the great mentor and band leader. Unfortunately, what we get is serious music played seriously by serious musicians. Technically it swings, but it feels so  heavy. The rhythm section gets the lead out when Walton takes his solos, but it’s not enough to lift this CD off the ground.– Pete Kelly