Mike Walker (born 12 July 1962) is a British jazz guitarist.
Career
Walker was influenced by his father's piano playing, his mother's singing, and his brother's guitar playing. He went on to discover a passion for jazz guitarists
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...
,
Joe Pass
Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...
,
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...
,
John Scofield
John Scofield (born December 26, 1951), sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in the ...
,
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist.
Early life
Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...
, and
Tal Farlow
Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As Steve Rochinski notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in th ...
.
He joined the jazz fusion band River People with Paul Allen,
Tim Franks, and Paul Kilvington in Manchester. In the 1980s, he became a member of a quartet led by vibraphonist Alan Butler and worked with
Michael Gibbs and
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...
. He worked with
Nikki
Nikki may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Nikki (Barbie), a fashion doll in the Barbie toy line
* Nikki (comics), a Marvel Comics character
* Nikki and Paulo, from the TV series ''Lost''
* Nikki, the mascot of Swapnote
* N ...
and
Richard Iles
Richard Iles (born 1962 in Birmingham, England) is a jazz trumpeter. As a member of the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, he gained valuable experience in jazz. After leaving the Leeds College of Music in 1980 he became a founding member of the Creati ...
, then the
Sylvan Richardson
Sylvan Richardson is a British guitarist, composer, and masseur.
Music
Best known for being the one-time guitarist of Simply Red, after the second album '' Men and Women'' and a successful world tour, Richardson left the band after becoming d ...
band, where he met saxophonist Iain Dixon. While in Zurich with the Kenny Wheeler big band, he met
Julian Arguelles
Julian may refer to:
People
* Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363
* Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots
* Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints
* Julian (giv ...
and joined his quartet.
In the 1990s he toured in bands led by saxophonist
Tommy Smith. He has worked as
George Russell's guitarist, recording with him on several occasions, and with the Creative Jazz Orchestra,
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen (born 27 October 1945) is a Norwegian jazz musician bassist, known as the most famous Norwegian bass player in the international jazz scene.
Career
Andersen was born at Strømmen, Norway. He started his musical career as jazz g ...
,
Tim Berne
Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954) is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.
Biography
Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States. He has said that ...
,
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...
,
Jacqui Dankworth
Jacqueline Caryl Dankworth (born 5 February 1963) is a British jazz singer. She is the daughter of jazz singer Cleo Laine and musician John Dankworth.
Career
Dankworth was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. She attended St. Chri ...
,
Tal Farlow
Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As Steve Rochinski notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in th ...
, Bill Frisell,
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
,
Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza (born November 17, 1961) is an American composer, music arranger and conductor, and six-time Grammy Award winner. He debuted as a solo artist in 1989, and is known for his work conducting the Metropole Orkest and WDR Big Band Kö ...
,
Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner.
Robert Moses may also refer to:
* Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist
* Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic
* Bob M ...
,
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer.
He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...
,
Mica Paris
Michelle Antoinette Wallen (born 27 April 1969), known professionally as Mica Paris (), is an English singer, presenter and actress.
Paris was born in Islington in North London, but moved to Brockley, South London, when she was nine. She rel ...
,
John Taylor,
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...
, and
Norma Winstone
Norma Ann Winstone MBE (born 23 September 1941) is an English jazz singer and lyricist. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is best known for her wordless improvisations. Musicians with whom she has worked include Michael Garrick, ...
.
In May 2008, Wallker released his debut album ''Madhouse and the Whole Thing There''. It features the members of Brazil Nuts, plus strings and brass sections, piano, vocals, and French horn. Walker was commissioned to write a some music for
Manchester Jazz Festival {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Manchester Jazz Festival is an annual 9-day-long festival focused on showcasing contemporary jazz from the North West of England and beyond.
mjf 2017
The 2017 Manchester Jazz Festival took place from 28 July to 6 ...
. He wrote a suite called "Ropes" that was performed by a 22-piece orchestra, a jazz quintet, and
Adam Nussbaum
Adam Nussbaum (born November 29, 1955) is an American jazz drummer.
Early life
Nussbaum was born in New York City on November 29, 1955. He grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut, and first played the drums at the age of four. After five years of piano ...
on drums at the
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...
in Manchester.
Walker's sextet includes Les Chisnall, Iain Dixon,
Malcolm Edmonstone
Malcolm Edmonstone (born 1980, Perth, Scotland) is a British jazz pianist and pop arranger. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he became Head of Jazz. Edmonstone provided orchestral arrangements for Gary Barlow’s 202 ...
, Pat Illingworth, and Steve Watts. He is a member of The Printmakers, a band organized by Nikki Iles and Norma Winstone with Mark Lockheart, Steve Watts, and James Maddren; and The Impossible Gentleman with
Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...
, Adam Nussbaum, and
Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock (born 24 February 1981) is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, often blurring any distinction between the two musical forms.
Simcock was chosen as one of the 1000 Most Influential People in Lo ...
.
He has taught a music summer school in
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
with Iain Dixon and has been a tutor for the National Youth Jazz Collective, in addition to teaching guitar online.
Discography
As leader
* ''Madhouse and the Whole Thing There'' (2008)
* ''Beholden'' (Shell Like, 2014)
* ''Ropes'' (Madhouse, 2018)
With Creme Anglaise
* ''Creme Anglaise'' (Jazzprint, 2006)
With The Impossible Gentlemen
* ''The Impossible Gentlemen'' (Basho, 2011)
* ''Internationally Recognised Aliens'' (Basho, 2013)
* ''Let's Get Deluxe'' (Basho, 2016)
With The Printmakers
* ''Westerly'' (Basho, 2015)
With Real Book North West
* ''Real Book North West'' (Jazz Services, 2010)
As sideman or guest
With
Julian Argueelles
* ''Home Truths'' (Babel, 1995)
* ''Skull View'' (Babel, 1997)
* ''Escapade'' (Provocateur, 1999)
* ''As Above So Below'' (Provocateur, 2003)
With others
*
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...
, ''Composition No. 175, Composition No. 126 Trillium-Dialogues M'' (Leo, 2006)
*
Mike Gibbs, ''By the Way'' (Ah Um, 1993)
*
Roy Powell, ''North by Northwest'' (Nagel Heyer, 2001)
*
George Russell, ''The 80th Birthday Concert'' (Concept, 2005)
* George Russell, ''It's About Time: 1996'' (Label Bleu, 2016)
References
External links
Mike Walker Official WebsiteNWJazzworks
''This biography was written by Mike Walker himself. This Wikipedia page was put together by Adrian Stevenson on behalf of Mike Walker.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Mike
English jazz guitarists
English male guitarists
People from Salford
Music in Salford
Musicians from Manchester
1962 births
Living people
British male jazz musicians