Pianist Cedric Haywood's association with some of the more hard driving styles of jazz could possibly mask the versatility he displayed throughout his career. It is true that he seems connected at the hips with hard-driving tenor honkers, actually playing in a high school band behind Arnett Cobb and later spending years in the combo of Illinois Jacquet, with whom he collaborated on composing blowing vehicles with evocative titles such as "Blue Satin" and "Hot Rod". But the pianist also held forth in the New Orleans jazz style with greats such as Sidney Bechet and Kid Ory and proved a lighter touch was indeed in his fingertips by becoming part of vibraphonist Cal Tjader's quartet in the early '50s. The last six years of his life were spent leading his own band in his hometown of Houston, Texas, at one point even recording with the eccentric and hard to follow bluesman Lightning Hopkins. The professional career of Haywood began in 1934 when he joined a band led by Chester Boone. The following year he moved to the band of Milton Larkin, an association that continued through the end of the decade. He also got back into the Larkin combo in 1942, in between spending evenings with leaders such as Floyd Ray and Lionel Hampton. Bechet also worked with the pianist in 1942, after which the destination was California. Haywood was playing with a variety of local bands there before joining the U.S. Army. From 1948 his main associate was Saunders King--they moved together through several different bands before the period began with Jacquet, whose tempos and lengthy solo explorations certainly demanded plenty of chops from a pianist. Haywood hit if off with Tjader after going back to California and began to explore the possibilities of freelance composing and arranging as well. In the mid '50s he began performing as part of Ory's ensemble, including a pair of long European tours. Yet another blustery tenor man became a regular partner in the early '60s; this time it was Brew Moore, whose name sounds like a demand from heavy coffee drinkers. Haywood went back to Houston in 1963, where one of the spots to catch his act as a bandleader was the Club Ebony. ~ Eugene Chadbourne