JD Walter
A skilled scatter and interpreter of lyrics, jazz vocalist JD Walter emerged in the '90s alongside contemporaries like Kurt Elling, Lou Lanza, and Allan Harris. Reviewers and jazz critics alike have cited Bob Dorough (who wrote the liner notes for his debut album), Dave Frishberg, Mark Murphy, and Jon Hendricks among his influences, and Walter himself has claimed Cassandra Wilson and Betty Carter as important influences. His wide-ranging material has included well-known Tin Pan Alley standards as well as works by Bill Evans, Stevie Wonder, and Dave Liebman. Walter made his full-length solo debut with Sirens in the C-House in 2000 before collaborating with Liebman on 2001's Clear Day. Also a composer, Walter often includes original songs on his albums, including on 2013's One Step Away. Following vocal surgery, he returned with his sixth studio album, Dressed in Song, in 2020.
Walter was born on July 2, 1967 in Philadelphia suburb Abington Township, but he grew up mostly in the Lancaster/Lebanon area of Pennsylvania. Singing in his church choir from age six, he later attended the American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey. He headed south in 1985 to enroll at the University of North Texas, where he studied vocal jazz on a scholarship. After seven years in Texas, Walter moved to the Netherlands and studied with transplanted American jazz singer Deborah Brown at Amsterdam's Conservatory for the Arts. He didn't stay long in Holland; in 1994, the improviser returned to the United States and spent the rest of the '90s living in a variety of locales, including New York City and, again, Texas. In the meantime, he recorded his first album, Sirens in the C-House. It was released on Dreambox Media in 2000. That year, he recorded his second LP, a collaboration with soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman titled Clear Day. It arrived on Indiana label Double-Time Records in 2001. In the early 2000s, Walter also found his way back to Philadelphia, where briefly joined the faculty of the University of the Arts. It was by immersing himself in the inventive New York jazz scene that he shifted from straight-ahead jazz to a more liberated, dynamic singing style.
In 2004, Walter released both 2Bass, a Face and a Little Skin (Dreambox), featuring bassists Steve Varner and Tony Marino and drummer Ari Hoenig, and Dedicated to You (Pact), the latter with the Steve Rudolph Trio. He followed those with a pair of live albums, 2008's Live in Portugal and 2009's Live at the 55 Bar, both on Jwal Records. His fifth studio album, One Step Away (Jwal), saw him backed by guitarist Marvin Sewell, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Nasheet Waits. It consisted of original songs alongside covers of songwriters including Paul Simon, Michel Legrand, and Todd Rundgren.
Health issues that led to heart and vocal cord surgeries put Walter's performance career on hold for several years. When he was able to return to the studio, he enlisted Grammy-winning producer Al Pryor to record Dressed in Song. Released on Jwal in early 2020, its many guests included Orrin Evans, Marc Cary, and Becca Stevens.
© Alex Henderson & Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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What the World Needs Now
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 19 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Was Telling Her About You
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 24 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
And I Love Her
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 10 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Last Muse
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 13 Oct 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
What the World Needs Now
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 5 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Keisha's Coy
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 10 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Set 1 - Live in Portugal (Live)
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 31 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It Never Entered My Mind (Live Radio Version)
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 17 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It Never Entered My Mind
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 21 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Set 2 (Live in Portugal)
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 12 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beautiful Moons Ago
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 24 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
White Christmas
Christmas Music - Released by Arkadia Records on 4 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golden Lady
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 13 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Now It's Time To Go
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 7 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turn Out The Stars
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 18 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dressed In A Song
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 27 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Here I Am There I Go
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 21 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Way You Look Tonight
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 15 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Holiday Sleigh Ride
Christmas Music - Released by Arkadia Records on 10 Nov 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'll Be Seeing You
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 29 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Inward (Live Radio Version)
Vocal Jazz - Released by Arkadia Records on 28 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo