Jim Walker has been a Yamaha artist since 1981. He performs on the Yamaha YFL-994DH. Currently teaching at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and performing with FreeFlight, James is one of Yamaha's most in demand performers. Mr. Walker also is an active clinician and has performed as a featured artist at the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Concert several times.
I play them because of the consistency, the design, and the amazing value throughout the line. I consistently get the comment "Do you REALLY play Yahama? It sounds so good".
Defining Jim Walker is no easy task. There are few musicians today who cross stylistic borders with the ease and Jim's flute as the lead voice of FreeFlight creates its own niche in the musical heavens, not merely reshaping one idiom, but allowing a hybrid sound to emerge which propels Free Flight light years beyond jazz fusion.
Motion picture soundtracks bask in the lovely sound from his golden flute. Symphony orchestras sparkle with his dazzling technical marches and velvet-like melodies. Recently Paul McCartney asked Jim to join him in his performance at the Academy Awards Show. It was certainly the largest audience (up to 1 Billion Viewers) to have seen Jim performing.
Recital halls glow from the splendor of his classical interpretations. Students marvel at the power and control of his playing "up close".
In his auto-biography Jean-Pierre Rampal said, "Jimmy Walker is my favorite jazz flute player". He has collaborated with Wayne Shorter, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Leonard Bernstein, Dudley Moore and many others in concert and recording projects.
Jim is currently a full-time lecturer and Coordinator of Flute at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. He has been visiting professor at Duquesne University, The University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin, and Arizona State University. In addition he has conducted flute master classes and clinics in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Korea, Japan and Russia.
Whether performing concertos, chamber music, jazz improvisation, motion picture soundtracks, pop recordings, class teaching, or lecturing around the world; Jim brings a uniquely beautiful sound and an exhilarating approach to the world of music making, teaching and flute playing.
