James "Jim" Walker is an American flutist and educator. He is 73 years old. He is the former Principal Flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the founder of the jazz quartet Free Flight. Since 1984, he has focused most of his attention on jazz performance and flute pedagogy.
In 1980, Walker organized a jazz quartet featuring flute, piano, bass and drums. This group later become known as Free Flight. In 1984, he left the Los Angeles Philharmonic to concentrate on his work with the quartet and to do freelance work in Southern California and beyond. "After 15 years as a classical player, it was enough", Walker said in 1987. "In the beginning, I felt I was playing honest, wonderfully inspiring music. But after hundreds of repetitions, it wasn't so inspiring." He has collaborated with many other flutists including James Galway and Jean-Pierre Rampal, and has also worked with other well-known musicians including Wayne Shorter, Leonard Bernstein, Dudley Moore and many others in concert and recordings.
Walker's discography includes with Free Flight the albums The Jazz/Classical Union, Soaring , Beyond the Clouds, Illumination and Slice of Life, Free Flight 2000, A Free Flight Christmas, and Free Flight: Forever. Walker's solo albums are Freeflight, Private Flight, Music for Flute and Piano, Jim Walker Plays the Classics, Dancing Hearts: The Music of Bryan Pezzone, Dancing Hearts and D'Drum. Walker has recorded with pianist Mike Garson on duo albums Flight of the Dove, Reflections, Flute Solos for the Performing Artist, Walker & Garson Play Gershwin, Pied Piper, and The Music of George Gerswin. Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin invited Walker to play on two tracks by Manuel de Falla on their 2006 album Two Worlds A live concert video is still being played on the Bravo and Arts & Entertainment networks. Walker appeared with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on their 1998 album L.A.G.Q., performing on Chick Corea's "Spain Spain" and on their 2002 album LAGQ Latin, featured on a new composition entitled "SZSYGY". He joined classical guitarist Scott Tennant on his 1998 album Wild Mountain Thyme , performing Ian Krouse's "Da Chara ”. More recent Free Flight recordings are Free Flight 2000 on Warner Bros. Publication. Two additional CDs are available as part of the Yamaha Disklavier catalog: Free Flight 2004 and A Free Flight Christmas. Walker's flute solos can also be heard in many movie soundtracks, including Nijinsky, A River Runs Through It, Far and Away, Nell, Two If by Sea, Amistad, The River, Seven Years in Tibet, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind, Monsters, Inc., Ice Age and Memoirs of a Geisha. He is one of four performing artists to be named as members of the Board of Advisors for "Smartmusic", a remarkable computer program which provides accompaniments for most of the standard flute solo repertoire and many jazz play-a-long tracks from both Aebersold and Alfred jazz series. Walker is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association. He has played Yamaha flutes exclusively since 1980 and is a Yamaha Performing Artist. He performs numerous concerts and clinics as a direct result of their sponsorship. He was given the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from the University of Louisville, and was named the first "Alumni Fellow" from the university's School of Music. Walker recently made his debut at the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, Washington, where he appeared as guest soloist with the Phoenix and Thunderbird honor bands.
