Nancy Walker - Layers of Rust and Time

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:27
Size: 89,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:56) 1. Dreamwalker
(2:59) 2. Good For Her
(4:25) 3. December Song
(3:56) 4. Big Sky
(4:08) 5. Here's Lookin At Love
(3:41) 6. Bury Me Beneath The Willow
(4:41) 7. One Man's History
(4:34) 8. Corinna Corinna
(4:13) 9. Quecreek Was Water
(1:50) 10. Talk About Sufferin

I’ve been singing all my life as far back as I can remember. As a young girl my first experience working with a private music teacher began with piano lessons which later led to guitar lessons. In my late teens I toured professionally (in a top 40 band performing covers) and began exploring singing in different genres. After years of performing with different groups I started writing original songs and went on to record and release 3 CDs. As a performing songwriter I found my home for many years working with a trio from Chicago called Sons Of The Never Wrong. While living in Chicago I created showcases for artists who were writing original songs and later, following a move to NY, I coordinated and hosted an open mic. specifically for my voice students.

“...Nancy is the focus of the room. That feeling, that depth of knowledge and experience, allows her to inhabit every song, whether it’s singing for the souls of miners or recalling her Old Town School of Folk Music roots...” ~ Michael Eck, Multi-Instrumentalist and freelance writer https://yourvoicecoach.net/nancy-walker

Layers of Rust and Time

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Nancy Walker - New Hieroglyphics

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:02
Size: 139,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:05) 1. Mehndi
(2:46) 2. Late Bloom
(5:53) 3. Federico
(7:43) 4. New Hieroglyphics
(3:52) 5. The Great Hall
(4:27) 6. Imprint
(5:11) 7. Beacons
(4:27) 8. Companion Moon
(5:52) 9. Take You There
(6:49) 10. Intentional Blues
(6:53) 11. Brave Heart

Amidst an overcrowded community, even the cream of the crop has difficulty getting heard beyond their own locales. A regular visitor to relatively nearby Ottawa, Toronto-based Nancy Walker is an Ottawa Jazz Festival regular as part of John Geggie's trio at the late night jam sessions also participating on the bassist's recent Across the Sky (Plunge, 2010), an at times lyrical, other times incendiary modern mainstream date featuring better-known saxophonist Donny McCaslin. The pianist has been delivering albums under her own name roughly every three years since 1997, with the exception of the compelling When She Dreams (Justin Time, 2004), released a mere year after 2003's Levitation (Self Produced, 2003). New Hieroglyphics brings the trio back from Walker's Need Another (Self Produced, 2007), but it's not just guitarist Ted Quinlan, fleshing this date out to a quartet, that lights a serious fire. Walker's always possessed greater diversity than her generally centrist music has suggested, occasionally entering more angular territory on Across the Sky and soaring, at times, with the energy of John Coltrane's classic mid-'60s quartet. Here, the pianist demonstrates even broader stylistic interests, bolstered with unfailing aplomb by bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Ethan Ardelli, even as she dives into a burning pool of lava on the opening "Mehndi," where her approach is anything but reminiscent of Coltrane's pianist, McCoy Tyner. Instead, her touch is lighter and her Phrygian lines more sparsely populated, even as she moves towards greater density beneath Quinlan's gritty solo, after peaking her own with a series of ascending chords and a brief, unexpected gospel tint.

Nor is it just Quinlan's thick, gritty tone on tracks like the blues-tinged "Take You There" that gives New Hieroglyphics its edge; for the first time, Walker adds Fender Rhodes to the mix, and its chiming tone encourages her to traverse more ethereal planes on the brooding "Companion Moon," doubling her grand piano for its gently expansive vibe. Meanwhile, Quinlan turns to steely acoustic guitar on a tune where intrinsic structure doesn't confine the quartet's interpretive stance, its consummate taste and astute, spacious interplay a touchstone for the entire set. Walker sticks with Rhodes on the upbeat "Take You There," her motivic solo driven as much by time as melody, with Overs and Ardelli busily pushing its visceral groove. A powerful mid-tempo pulse drives the harmonically altered "Intentional Blues," while on the sweeter "Late Bloom," Walker goes it alone, lyrically twisting and turning; The more oblique title track moves effortless along a sketch of a concept, a taste of Keith Jarrett's American Quartet imbuing a relentlessly building piano solo, its flurries of ideas driven by Ardelli's most flamboyant playing of the set, an energized ostinato driving a rare drum solo, as Walker again layers piano and Rhodes and the tune finally draws to a close, recapitulating its recondite opening conceit. Demonstrating considerable growth since When She Dreams, the eclectic, esoteric and unfailingly accessible New Hieroglyphics finds the ever-intrepid Walker pushing through borders into dynamic new territory, even as she retains all the markers that have drawn people to her in the first place.

Personnel: Nancy Walker: piano, Fender Rhodes; Ted Quinlan: electric and acoustic guitars (1, 3-6, 8-11); Kieran Overs: bass (1, 3-11); Ethan Ardelli: drums (1, 3-11).

New Hieroglyphics

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Nancy Walker - Invitation

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:22
Size: 140,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:00) 1. Invitation
(9:03) 2. Strange Bird
(5:26) 3. If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You
(9:32) 4. Black Coral
(8:37) 5. Little Dark One
(4:33) 6. Union/Reunion
(5:27) 7. A Child Is Born
(7:59) 8. The Blessing
(5:42) 9. Flip-Flop

Nancy’s debut recording as leader, Invitation, was released in August of 1997 on the UP Label (Unity/Page). The CD, featuring tunes from the standard repertoire and five of her own compositions, has garnered reviews and received nationwide airplay.

Voted one of the year’s best by Jazz Canadiana reviewers, Invitation is a trio date, with Nancy on piano, Kieran Overs on bass, and Barry Romberg on drums. https://nancywalkermusic.com/album/invitation/

Personnel: Nancy Walker: Piano; Kieran Overs: Bass; Barry Romberg: Drums

Invitation

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Nancy Walker - Rainy Days & Mondays

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:50
Size: 138,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:49) 1. All by Myself
(5:45) 2. The Sound of Silence
(3:22) 3. In My Life
(4:18) 4. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
(4:36) 5. All out of Love
(4:47) 6. Help Me Make It Through the Night
(4:27) 7. If You Leave Me Now
(4:48) 8. Honesty
(4:13) 9. I'm Not in Love
(4:59) 10. I'd Really Love to See You Tonight
(3:21) 11. If
(4:09) 12. Don't Cry out Loud
(3:47) 13. So Far Away
(3:22) 14. Rainy Days and Mondays

Nancy Walker is a Canadian musician based in the Toronto area. Her work as a pianist and composer reflects her view of the times we live in at times intense, at times poignant, at times cerebral. Her most recent recording as leader is ‘Til Now Is Secret (Addo Records). Showcasing ten of her original compositions, the recording features multi-reed player Shirantha Beddage, guitarist Ted Quinlan, bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Ethan Ardelli, and was made possible with the help of the Ontario Arts Council. Nancy has been recognized Canada-wide. Winner of the 2008 National Jazz Awards Keyboardist Of The Year Award and the 2003 Montréal International Jazz Festival’s prestigious Grand Prix de Jazz, Nancy has several previous discs as leader to her credit. Her debut, Invitation, was released in 1997, and was voted one of the year’s best by Jazz Canadiana reviewers. Toronto Star critic Geoff Chapman named Luminosity (2000) one of the top jazz recordings of that year. Levitation, Nancy’s third recording (2003), was “a fine example of the modern jazz musician’s art” according to the Globe & Mail’s Mark Miller. When She Dreams was released in 2004 on Canada’s premier jazz label, Justin Time Records, and shot to the number one position on Canadian campus radio jazz charts.

In 2005, Nancy and her quartet (featuring saxophonist Kirk MacDonald, bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Barry Romberg) toured the Canadian jazz festivals. That same year Nancy was nominated in four categories at Canada’s National Jazz Awards. In 2006, Nancy’s recording Rainy Days and Mondays (Somerset/Universal) was nominated for a JUNO award in the “Instrumental Album Of The Year” category. She was also among the Keyboardist Of The Year nominees at the 2006 and 2007 National Jazz Awards. Her next recording Need Another was a trio date with Kieran Overs and drummer Ethan Ardelli. Nancy’s 2011 release New Hieroglyphics (made possible with the help of The Ontario Arts Council) featured Ted Quinlan (guitar) along with Overs and Ardelli. Nancy’s quartet toured Western Canada in the fall of 2011 in support of the recording, with the assistance of The Canada Council For The Arts. Nancy has a solid background as a pianist and keyboard player for a variety of international recording and concert acts, both in and outside the jazz idiom. She’s recorded and toured with folk artist Sylvia Tyson, children’s entertainer Raffi, pop icons The Parachute Club, balladeer Roger Whittaker, and well-loved composer (the late) Hagood Hardy, to name a few.

Over the years Nancy has built enduring jazz relationships. As the pianist in the John Geggie Trio, Nancy held the piano chair in the house rhythm section for The Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s nightly jam sessions for over a decade. With bassist Geggie, Nancy has performed in concert with drum legend Billy Hart, contemporary drum heavyweight Matt Wilson and saxophone dynamo Donny McCaslin. She has recorded and performed in concert with the cream of Canada’s jazz vocal crop, from Vancouver’s Karin Plato to Toronto’s Emilie-Claire Barlow, and has worked frequently alongside Toronto saxophonists Kirk MacDonald and Pat Labarbera. Nancy can be heard on recently released recordings by Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra, Fair/Galloway Quintet, John Geggie + Donny McCaslin (this Plunge Records release garnered rave reviews and made several “Best of” lists), and Swedish guitarist Mikko Hildén.Thanks to grants from The Canada Council For the Arts, Nancy has had the opportunity to study with renowned American pianist/composers Fred Hersch, Jason Moran, and Myra Melford. https://nancywalkermusic.com/biography/

“Nancy Walker has played enough piano to know how to keep listeners interested however hard she pushes the boundaries of familiarity.”~ Geoff Chapman, The Whole Note Magazine

Rainy Days & Mondays

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Nancy Walker - 'Til Now Is Secret

Size: 149,1 MB
Time: 64:37
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz: Chamber Jazz
Art: Front

01. 'Til Now Is Secret (7:13)
02. Night On Earth (9:44)
03. Arctic Willow (6:27)
04. Folding (3:28)
05. Shade Of Many Shades (8:23)
06. Mock Turtle (3:02)
07. Luna Llena (6:28)
08. Buzz Theory (8:42)
09. Chemin Des Cascades (5:19)
10. I Read It Somewhere (5:47)

Pianist/composer Nancy Walker has been recognized with honours Canada-wide, including the National Jazz Awards Keyboardist Of The Year Award, the Montréal International Jazz Festival’s prestigious Grand Prix de Jazz, a JUNO nomination for Instrumental Album Of The Year, and an induction into the Mississauga Music Walk Of Fame.

Nancy has a solid background as a pianist and keyboard player for a variety of international recording and concert acts, both in and outside the jazz idiom. She’s recorded and toured with children’s entertainer Raffi, folk artist Sylvia Tyson, pop icons The Parachute Club, balladeer Roger Whittaker, and the late well-loved composer Hagood Hardy. As the pianist in the John Geggie Trio, Nancy held the piano chair in the house rhythm section for The Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s nightly jam sessions for over a decade. She can be heard on recently released recordings by Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra, Fair/Galloway Quintet, John Geggie + Donny McCaslin (this Plunge Records release garnered rave reviews and made several "best of" lists), and Swedish guitarist Mikko Hildén.

Nancy also has several discs to her credit as leader. Her most recent release is 'Til Now Is Secret. Showcasing ten of her original compositions, the recording features multi-reed player Shirantha Beddage, guitarist Ted Quinlan, bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Ethan Ardelli.

"Nancy Walker has played enough piano to know how to keep listeners interested however hard she pushes the boundaries of familiarity." - Geoff Chapman, The Whole Note Magazine

'Til Now Is Secret

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