Home » Jazz Musicians » Jo Walker

Jo Walker

Jo Walker is a New York City based jazz singer. She's lead vocalist for the Mercer Street Quartet, a Manhattan-based band focused on the American Songbook. With veteran players Marc Daine on guitar, Sean Conly on bass and Chip Fabrizi on drums, Mercer Street has a cool and intimate sound that celebrates the great vocal jazz recordings of the 60s. She's currently in the studio at PPI Recording working on a jazz Christmas album produced and engineered by award-winning Chip Fabrizi.

Jo grew up in a family that loved jazz - her father blasted Benny Goodman, Cootie Williams and Julie London from vinyl on an old console stereo. She's traveled the world and soaked up all kinds of rhythms and voices. A natural-born storyteller, Jo loves to lift up her voice and let it fly, telling great stories through music.

Sy Oliver: Easy Walker and Sentimental Sy

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30, 2023

Sy Oliver was one of the most important arrangers of the swing era. A trumpeter, singer and arranger in Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra in the 1930s, Oliver was hired by Tommy Dorsey in 1939 to give the band a more authentic Savoy Ballroom sound. Oliver's good fortune came the following January when Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey and Oliver was tasked with orchestrating the singer's up-tempo numbers. Axel Stordahl handled the ballads. Some of Sinatra's most memorable songs with Dorsey were arranged ...
read more

Festival

11th Annual Arlington Jazz Festival with Headliners Randy Brecker And Mark Walker's World Jazz Ensemble from April 7-10, 2022

Source: Mary Curtin Productions
March 28, 2022

The Arlington Jazz Festival (Boston) has scheduled a wide variety of musical events over a 4-day stretch in several venues around the town. The Festival, now in its 11th year, is presented by Arlington Jazz. This year’s headlining concert, held at the Regent Theatre on the final day of the festival, showcases legendary multi-Grammy award winning jazz trumpeter/composer Randy Brecker performing with Grammy winning drummer/composer Mark Walker and his World Jazz Ensemble, which features French pianist Alain Mallet, Peruvian bassist ...
read more

Video / DVD

T-Bone Walker: T-Bone Blues

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 12, 2018

In the early 1940s, when African-Americans in the South and Southwest moved north to the Midwest and west to Los Angeles in search of job opportunities at war-time factories, they packed their souls. As the Great Migration filled cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland and South Central in L.A., transplants from places such as Mississippi and Alabama longed for the Delta blues they heard back home. Once settled in cities, many of these migrants wanted the blues served up ...
read more

Performance / Tour

The Palladium Theatre Presents Live From New York: Jazz Vocalists Michelle Walker, Whitney James And Emily Braden

Source: Paula Lavitz - PR, Management & Booking
March 12, 2015

The Palladium Theatre Saturday, March 14th at 8pm The Palladium at St. Petersburg College 253 5th Ave N Saint Petersburg, FL 33701 Three adventurous new voices in jazz come together for one night in the spirit of collaboration of standards, re-imagined pop tunes and original music. Vocalists Whitney James, Emily Braden and Michelle Walker met in New York City where they became fast friends. They were drawn together by a mutual respect for each ...
read more

Performance / Tour

Celebrating Jazz Month: Jazz Bridge First Thursdays Neighborhood Concert Series In Collingswood, NJ Presents Barbara Walker

Source: Bruce Klauber
January 13, 2015

The Jazz Bridge First Thursdays Neighborhood Concerts Series at the Collingswood Community Center, East Collings Avenue in Collingswood, NJ—presents jazz vocalist Barbara Walker on Thursday, April 2. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., tickets are $10/$5 for students, and are only available at the door. For info: 856-858-8914, 215-517-8337. This performance, and all Jazz Bridge concerts being held in the month of April, are a part of the City of Philadelphia’s “Jazz Appreciation Month” celebration, sponsored by “Creative Philadelphia,” within the City ...
read more

Recording

Ready, Set, Record: Jazz Vocalist Michelle Walker Goes Into The Studio To Record

Source: Paula Lavitz - PR, Management & Booking
December 10, 2014

Ready, Set, Record: Jazz Vocalist Michelle Walker goes into the Studio to Record her new CD Love Misery NEW YORK, NY - On a cold, brisk March morning some 18 months ago, jazz vocalist Michelle Walker was packing her small suit case for a 3 day stay out of town. She and the band members that she had been playing with for a little over 4 years were heading up to the small town of Milford, PA to record her ...
read more

Performance / Tour

Vocalist Michelle Walker Returns To Russia For An Extended Tour As A Cultural Ambassador Of Jazz

Source: Michelle Walker
September 3, 2014

Jazz Vocalist Michelle Walker Tours Far East of Russia in September 2014 New York, NY - JGP Records announces the September 2014 tour schedule for jazz vocalist Michelle Walker. Michelle will present several special concerts throughout Russia on a tour from August 31 – September 15th. The concerts will feature her arrangements, music and original songs from her upcoming CD release project, “Love Misery”. The performances will be held at various outdoor Jazz Festivals, Philharmonic Halls and Jazz Clubs in ...
read more

Performance / Tour

Michelle Walker Performs Live @ The 55 Bar

Source: Michelle Walker
August 19, 2014

New York, NY - Critically acclaimed jazz vocalist Michelle Walker will perform the early set on Saturday August 23, 2014 at one of New York City’s most established and loved music watering-hole stages, The 55 BAR. Her sets will consist of originals, new and old standards with her refreshing and engaging arrangements starting promptly at 6:00pm. NO COVER. Joining her will be Toru Dodo on Piano, Marvin Sewell on Guitar, Lonnie Plaxico on Bass and Neal Smith on drums. Michelle ...
read more

Recording

Lissy Walker Returns With "Wonderland" Another Sublime Collection Of Classic, Soulful Folk/Jazz September 23

Source: Lissy Walker
August 12, 2014

Lissy Walker is a jazz singer, but she brings her own unique spin to the music by adding elements drawn from the worlds of folk, country, and 70s acoustic pop. Walker's burnished vocals and her virtuosic band slip effortlessly between genres to create their own soulfully sweet sound–dreamy and bittersweet, heartfelt and swinging–on her stunning new recording, Wonderland. For most of us, the word wonderland conjures up images of Lewis Carroll's surrealistic fables, as well as a dizzying array of ...
read more

Performance / Tour

Michelle Walker Sings Live @ The 55 Bar On July 24th 7pm

Source: Michelle Walker
July 18, 2014

New York, NY - Critically acclaimed jazz vocalist Michelle Walker will perform the early set on Thursday July 24, 2014 at one of New York City’s most established and loved music watering-hole stages, The 55 BAR. Her sets will consist of originals, new and old standards with her refreshing and engaging arrangements starting promptly at 7:00pm. NO COVER. Joining her will be Ron Affif, Michael O'Brien and Sean Fitzpatrick. Walker has spent the past few years amassing an impressive musical ...
read more