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BIOGRAPHY
The Rocky Mountain
region’s 1st-call jazz bassist, Ken Walker
has played with a veritable Who’s Who of
jazz artists including: Eddie Harris, Hal Galper,
Tom Harrell, John Abercrombie, Randy Brecker,
Nat Adderley, Jimmy Witherspoon, Carl Fontana,
Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis,
Freddie Hubbard, Lew Soloff, Clifford Jordan,
James Moody, Javon Jackson, Ray Bryant, Roy Hargrove,
Peter Erskine, Ed Soph, Butch Miles, Frank Mantooth,
Art Lande, Barry Harris, Billy Hart, Bob Berg,
Eddie Daniels, Benny Golson, Ravi Coltrane, Emily
Remler, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Shew, Charles McPherson,
Hank Crawford, Nick Brignola, Marlena Shaw, Dakota
Staton, Roseanna Vitro, Kitty Margolis, Ernie
Andrews, Sheila Jordan, Bill Henderson, Mose Allison,
Fred Wesley and Bob Dorough. He has also performed
at the Telluride, Jazz Aspen Snowmass and other
festivals throughout the Western States. In addition
to Terra Firma, his recording debut as a leader,
Walker’s discography includes appearances
on Fred Wesley’s To Someone, Ron Miles’
Witness, Live at Vartan Jazz recordings by Lew
Tabackin, Valery Ponomarev and Charles McPherson
and Ponomarev’s A Star for You.
Walker received a BA in Music Education from Arkansas
Tech University in 1979 and through 1985 worked
as a free-lance bassist in the Little Rock area
with both local bands and visiting artists from
around the US. He moved to Denver in late 1985
and in 1987 began a 12-year tenure as the house
bassist at Denver's legendary jazz club El Chapultepec
that ended in 1998. From 1987-1990 Walker participated
in the Young Audience Program through the Denver
Public Schools and was on the faculty of the Mile
High Jazz Camp at the University of Colorado –
Boulder in 1991 and from1997-2001. Walker has
on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music,
where he teaches jazz bass to all jazz and commercial
bass majors, since 1991 and coaches the Trad,
Hard Bop and Latin Combos in addition to his studio,
Ken. He is also the bassist for the Lamont Faculty
Jazz Ensemble, The Climb, which was chosen to
perform at the 1995 IAJE Convention in Anaheim,
California.
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