On an alternate take of John Coltrane's Giant Steps in April 1959, the pianist simply sat out the solo, not because he lacked the chops but because his genius was for building foundations so solid that the giants around him could fly. Cedar Walton, born in Dallas in 1934, got his first lessons from his mother Ruth, an aspiring concert pianist who took him into local jazz clubs, and absorbed Nat King Cole, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Art Tatum. At the University of Denver he was steered from composition into a music education degree, which turned out to be an accidental masterclass in how every instrument in a band room actually works, and late-night Denver jam sessions with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane convinced him his future was on the bandstand.

This episode traces his path from Birdland to an Army band in Germany alongside Leo  ...