About Walter Earl
San Francisco, CA
The driving force behind Walter Earl Music is performer/producer/composer Walter Earl.
Earl began his career in Dallas, Texas, where he studied with some of the best jazz musicians around such as Claude Johnson, Ken Boome, Kenny Kirkland, Roger Boyke, Joe Sample, Michelle Le Fevre, Robert Lee,in San Francisco Si Perkoff and Mark Little.
Earl played with the legendary Herbie Lewis. Lewis, who often featured the Walter Earl Quintet, had also played with renowned musicians like McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan and Joe Chambers.
Producing his debut album “Fly” in it quickly became clear Walter was not just another studio musician. His sound was a welcome addition to a new genre of music, “Bay Area Cool,” a seamless blend of jazz, hip hop and retro soul.
A year later, Earl produced his second album, “In the Middle of the Crowd,” demonstrating even greater musical maturity. With this album Earl maintained the motion and unique spirit of “Fly,” while drawing from classic jazz elements, hip hop and R&B. The result was refreshing and sophisticated.
Earl’s sound attracted the notice of Grammy Award-winning producer Narada Michael Walden, Felton Pilat of ConFunkShun, Ritchie Havens, Romanowski, DJ Rasoul and DJ Henry, Shadow Skillz, all of whom invited him to work with them. Over the years, he has also collaborated with Ron K, Bernard Wright, Victor Blackman, DJ Scott Hardkiss, Kenneth “K-Phlx” Manning and Erykah Badu as well as numerous big names in San Francisco such as Goapele, Zion I, Blackalicious, JT tha Bigga Figga, Latryx, Crown City Rockers, and TC and the Enhancer. Earl performed with David Boyce, Kevin Carnes, Chris McGrew, Paul Eastburn, Juan Escovedo of the Escovedo Family, Ricardo Scales, James Levi of the Headhunters, Dorothy Morrision of Oh Happy Day, Rock Box Drummer and music Director for the Weathergirls. Earl moved to San Francisco ready to take the city by storm. Demand for him grew quickly as a studio maven, and he shared his talents with producers at Radical House, Bayview Productions, Frisco Studios, The Funkanauts, The Walker Brothers, The Top Four Flights and Tarpan Studios.
Earl’s third album, “The Walter Earl Group: Fillmore Connection,” is an eclectic mix of smooth jazz and hip hop soul. Vocally, Earl brings to mind musical greats like Leroy Hutson and Joe Sample. His lyrics, written from the heart, are an emotional appeal for a better world. The song “Peace of Mind” is particularly soulful, speaking of a need we have all felt at some point. Whether you’re looking for ambiance or inspiration, “Fillmore Connection” will take you there.
Earl’s musical appetite is insatiable. He composed the soundtrack to an award-winning full-length feature film, “underdogs,” As a record producer, his name has appeared on a dozen albums Earl’s group was featured in a live Webcast on the entertainment site Luminary.tv performing standards and Earl’s original compositions at Fantasy Studios. Later on Earl’s was the composer for (The Burning Monk Collective in San Francisco under directed Peter Griggs
Earl’s collaborating with Romanowski; as ‘’Royal Earl’’ (Walter Earl & Romanowski)
title: Together/Alone was Released in the fall of 2010 Trouser Trout Records,Lemmon House Productions.Soul& R&B,Pop. Two years in the making,the two traded tracks back and forth. Romanowski would give walter a track, he would then write some beautiful lyrics and melodies and hand them back to Romanowski…sometimes it was the other way around.
The end result is a solid 14 track modern soul/r&b/pop/leftfield album,including 2 rap tracks.“Hungry” is one of them featuring P.E.A.C.E. of the legendary Freestyle Fellowship Crew.
“Don’t let it get you down” has the bi-lingual rap stylings of Deuce Eclipse(Bang Data Crew)…going effortlessly from english into spanish.
Earl’s soon to be Released this year new Project (Live In San Francisco ) from the hit single (FLY) was the pilot for Smooth Jazz High Definition, it was Hosted by Miranda Wilson it opened with a one minute and thirty second amazing opening called, “FLY” featuring the great sounds of The Walter Earl Group along with fascinating aerials of San Francisco filmed by Louis Halcyon Simmons.
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