4 albums as leader and 6 as sideman (1960–1992), each listed chronologically.
1992 · More Than A Mood
Cedar Walton's longtime drummer Billy Higgins is a name in the small print of countless records. But in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, he built a place called The World Stage, gathering and encouraging young musicians. He was never only a player.
— Statement stmt-cedar-walton-on-billy-higgins-2
1960 · A.T.'s Delight
Kind of Blue is remembered for its pianist's modal chords, but the one blues track was actually played by someone else, Wynton Kelly. That same year, Kelly also turns up on Coltrane's harmonically brutal Giant Steps — not on the punishing title track, but on the album's one quiet ballad, 'Naima.'
1965 · Up With Donald Byrd
Kenny Burrell cut his guitar parts on Blue Note sessions across the 1950s and 60s. Decades later those same master tapes were chopped up and rebuilt into 2021's Deciphering the Message, crediting him on a brand-new record he never actually played a note for.
1981 · Silk
Amandla (1989) carries Miles Davis's name, but Marcus Miller wrote most of it, produced it, and overdubbed keyboards and bass clarinet alongside his own bass. The man who had been the band's bassist a few years earlier was now designing the sound itself.
Cedar Walton
Wynton Kelly
Marcus Miller