Nicholas Walker

Breaking News!
I'll be touring Alberta and British Columbia with John Stetch www.johnstetch.com in October. We are at the following places below as part of our Canada Council Canada tour, and would greatly appreciate any help with spreading the word and getting people out to hear this fun music. This is John's first group tour to the West in 10 years and we're playing some original pieces of his as well as his new CD repertoire which is entirely TV themes from the 70's and 80's. ( Six Million Dollar Man, Love Boat, Star Trek, Dallas, Waltons, The Price is Right etc). The Trio will also feature Greg Ritchie on drums. We're also looking for a possible performance or workshop on Saturday, October 11th in the BC/Alberta area if anyone has any ideas.

Western Canada Portion:

Oct. 9 -Kiyano College/Fort MacMurray
Oct. 10 - Yardbird Suite/Edmonton
Oct. 12 - The Cellar/Vancouver
Oct.13 - Hermann's/Victoria
Oct. 14 - The Beat Niq/Calgary

What a great gig in Allentown last week. Merrill, Stetch and Killian played like men possessed! I had a blast. I'm working away at the Fall 2008 curriculum for Ithaca College now, and looking forward to a fun faculty recital on September 16th at 7:00pm in Hockett Family Recital Hall at IC. I'll be playing a new arrangement of Bach's second gamba sonata, my own new fantasy for bass and piano, and a few Rabbath pieces. Josh Oxford will be on piano, and Jean Radice on harpsichord. Hope to see you there!

I had a great time working with Gabe Shuford this week, and our recital seemed to be a big hit. We had a great turnout, and played in a beautiful wood room overlooking Seneca Lake.

This Friday I'll be playing in Allentown, PA at the Allentown Symphony Jazz Series
8/15 2008 7:30-9:30
Allentown, PA
Rodale Room

Paul Merrill Quartet
featuring John Stetch
Nicholas Walker
Tom Killian
Details at http://www.allentownsymphony.org/JAZZCABARETSERIES/tabid/102/Default.aspx

Hi Folks, Sorry to have been so out of touch this summer with the web site. I'll try to do a better job keeping you up to date with upcoming performances. Tomorrow, August 10th at 6:30 pm I'll be playing a recital with Stony Brook friend and harpsichordist, Gabe Shuford. We'll be playing at Leidenfrost Winery, http://wine.appellationamerica.com/vineyard/Leidenfrost_Vineyards.html Rt 414, on Seneca Lake for fund raiser for Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies. Please come on by and support Wisdom's Goldenrod. Info Here

With Special Guest....
Gabe Shuford
Award Winning Harpsichord Player

Gabe Shuford is an expert baroque ornamentalist, and adept continuo player, well respected among his colleagues. He moonlights as a jazz piano player, playing with ensembles around the New York City area. Gabe Shuford is an expert baroque ornamentalist, and adept continuo player, well respected among his colleagues. He moonlights as a jazz piano player, playing with ensembles around the New York City area. Classical and colloquial have cross-contaminated one another so much that Gabe has become an adept jazz, Celtic, back-woods bluegrass and baroque harpsichordist and pianist - with a tender touch.

Summer Concert Benefiting Wisdom’s Golden Rod
Sunday, August 10
Arrive at 6:00 PM to mingle
Concert begins at 6:30 PM
Leidenfro

I'll be playing my piece, Paris Skies, with Lizzy Simkin this FRIDAY, JUNE 6 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall as part of the New Directions Cello Festival Concert
Please join us!

The IC PIP Ensemble will be performing tonight at 7:00 pm at Ithaca College in the Hockett Family Recital Hall.

The PIP Ensemble features: Aimee Shorten, traverso/recorder; Stephen Pysnik, recorder/corneto; Andrew Bergevin, Maeve O'Hara, violin: Tim Ball, violin/viola, Aara Edwards, viola, Aaron Gainer, lute; Mary Holzhauer, harpsichord; Nicholas Walker, viola da gamba

And also the IC Opera Workshop: Kristen Gobetz, Erin Winker, sopranos; Thomas Furey, Omar Najmi , tenors; Thomas Lehman, Garry McLinn, baritones; Nicole Guberman, Allison Macri,Sarah Vincelett,cast

We'll be playing: Sonata Decima Quinta a 4 (1621) Dario Castello (c. 1590 – c. 1630)

Canzon Vigesimaprima à 5. Canto Alto Tenore Basso Girolamo Frescobaldi
Canzona Prima à 4. Canto Alto Tenore Basso (1608) (1583 – 1643)

Recercada Segunda sobre passamezzo Moderno (1553) Diego Ortiz (1510 – 1570)

Fantasia No. 6 Orlando De Lasso (c. 1531 – 1594)

Danserye Deutsche Tanze & Reigen Tielmann Susato
(from Het derde musyck boexken, 1551) (1501 – 1561)

Concert #2, from Les Concerts Royaux (1714,15) Francois Couperin (1668 – 1733)

Cantata no. 211, Kaffee Kantata (c. 1733) J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

The IC PIP Ensemble will be performing tonight and Thursday in Ithaca. The Period Instrument Performance Ensemble will be appearing tonight at 7:30 pm at St. Luke Lutheran, (109 Oak Ave in Collegetown, just uphill of Collegetown branch of Collegetown Bagels), and on Thursday at 7:00 pm at Ithaca College in the Hockett Family Recital Hall.

The PIP Ensemble features: Aimee Shorten, traverso/recorder; Stephen Pysnik, recorder/corneto; Andrew Bergevin, Maeve O'Hara, violin: Tim Ball, violin/viola, Aara Edwards, viola, Aaron Gainer, lute; Mary Holzhauer, harpsichord; Nicholas Walker, viola da gamba

And also the IC Opera Workshop: Kristen Gobetz, Erin Winker, sopranos; Thomas Furey, Omar Najmi , tenors; Thomas Lehman, Garry McLinn, baritones; Nicole Guberman, Allison Macri,Sarah Vincelett,cast

We'll be playing: Sonata Decima Quinta a 4 (1621) Dario Castello (c. 1590 – c. 1630)

Canzon Vigesimaprima à 5. Canto Alto Tenore Basso Girolamo Frescobaldi
Canzona Prima à 4. Canto Alto Tenore Basso (1608) (1583 – 1643)

Recercada Segunda sobre passamezzo Moderno (1553) Diego Ortiz (1510 – 1570)

Fantasia No. 6 Orlando De Lasso (c. 1531 – 1594)

Danserye Deutsche Tanze & Reigen Tielmann Susato
(from Het derde musyck boexken, 1551) (1501 – 1561)

Concert #2, from Les Concerts Royaux (1714,15) Francois Couperin (1668 – 1733)

Cantata no. 211, Kaffee Kantata (c. 1733) J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Check out this amazing editorial piece for CouterPunch about the gig with Rotondi, Stetch and Killian last week! The author, David Yearsley, is a professor of musicology at Cornell, one of the top early keybord experts in the world, but more importantly . . . he's . . . my neighbor! http://www.counterpunch.org/yearsley04192008.html

I'll be playing with NYC Trumpeter Jim Rotondi this Sunday at the Carriage House in Ithaca.

Jim Rotondi, trumpet
John Stetch, piano
Nicholas Walker, bass
Tom Killian, drums

Sunday April 13, 2008, 8:00 pm
Supper Club at the Hayloft
Carriage House Café
305 Stewart Ave.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-645-0152

Tickets for the concert only $12.00

Special "eats" featuring an upper-Midwest style menu Reservations taken between 6:15 and 6:45. Show Starts at 8:00 pm with ala carte desserts and beverages $47.00/person (includes dinner and show price) Available at the Carriage House Café and Ticket Center at Clinton House 116 N. Cayuga St. (corner of Seneca St.) Ithaca, NY 14850 Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-5:30pm (closed Sat 2-3), Sun 12-5pm

Welcome to Ithaca's real Jazz club at Ithaca's top-rated restaurant.
Trumpeter Jim Rotondi began his musical studies at a very early age. His mother, a piano teacher, encouraged Jim to begin playing the piano at age eight. He took up the trumpet at age twelve. In 1980 Jim graduated from Butte High School in Butte, Montana. He then attended North Texas State University, where he graduated with a degree in trumpet performance. While in Texas, Jim was awarded first place in the International Trumpet Guild's jazz trumpet competition for the year 1984. After college Jim began recording and touring internationally with the Ray Charles Orchestra. Immediately following this he commenced a six year tenure with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. During this time Jim also became a member of organist Charles Earland's quintet. He currently tours with his own group, as well as with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Grammy-winner Toshiko Akiyoshi and the collective known as One For All, which features a front line of Eric Alexander and Steve Davis.
Jim's extensive recording experience most recently includes the release of his fifth date as a leader, titled "Destination Up", for the Sharp Nine label following the successful release of four CDs on the Criss Cross Jazz label. He can also be heard on several of Charles Earland's Highnote Records releases, alongside saxophonist Eric Alexander, with whom Jim made his recording debut on Eric's Delmark release "Straight Up". Other recordings include saxophonist George Coleman's Octet, featuring Harold Mabern, as well as drummer Ray Appleton's Sextet, which features Slide Hampton, Charles McPherson, and John Hicks. Jim is also a member of the aforementioned One For All, whose Sharp Nine Records releases "Too Soon To Tell" and "Optimism" received critical acclaim from Cadence, Jazz Times, and The Detroit Free Press.

Please join me for a special concert with Tango de Cámara, featuring Tango ledgend, Daniel Binelli (bandoneon), and fellow Ithaca College professors, Steven Mauk (saxophone), Pablo Cohen (guitar)
Ford Hall, ithaca College
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
8 p.m. FREE

Bandoneon player extraordinaire and tango composing legend Daniel Binelli headlines this special concert that winds through the sonic camouflages and counterpoints of Latin American music. Binelli will play in the quartet Tango de Cámara with Ithaca College School of Music faculty members Pablo Cohen (guitar), Steven Mauk (saxophone) and Nicholas Walker (bass).

Daniel Binelli is one of the world’s greatest virtuosos of the bandoneon. He has played bandoneon with major traditional tango orchestras as well as being a member of Astor Piazzolla’s last septet. With many world wide tours as member of the Pugliese and Piazzolla orchestras, Mr Binelli also directed some of the most important tango sows in the US and Europe. As a soloist, Binelli is also widely acclaimed as the foremost exponent and torchbearer of the music of tango legend Astor Piazzolla. He featured with orchestras in Asia, Europe and Latin America. This past seasson he performed his own compositions as well as Piazzolla’s as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco, Huston, Dallas, Utah, Buffalo and Binghamton orchestras.

Tango is closely identified with an instrument not commonly found in classical chamber music ensembles or orchestras: the bandoneon. A button squeezebox instrument developed in Germany and constructed of wood, metal, leather and mother of pearl, the bandoneon is a formidably difficult instrument to play. Its sonorities define tango. The music and the dramatic performances of Daniel Binelli with Tango de Camara members Mauk, Walker and Cohen are a good example of that.