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Myron Walden

Myron Walden was born in Miami, Florida on October 18, 1972, moving with his mother to the Bronx at age 12, and grew up listening to a wide range of rhythm and blues, blues, soul, and gospel music. Shortly after the move, as Myron's uncle was listening to a recording of Charlie Parker's 'One Night in Washington,' young Myron was profoundly moved by the music and, hearing the uncle exclaim "Tell it Bird!," he immediately knew that music was his calling and that music would be his voice.

In some ways, his 2009-2010 trio of albums best reflects the way music made him feel at that early age. "When Brian Blade Fellowship was formed I was really inspired. Here was a jazz master who knew country, blues and early rock. Brian helped me realize the vast possibilities in music. My passion is too expansive to be limited to one style. I like to express myself and my emotions beyond the conventions of any one genre." With new recordings, 'Momentum', 'In This World' and 'Countryfied', Walden has created a body of work full of range and passion.

As a boy, the local public school had no music department, but a sympathetic teacher, touched by the child's desire to play the saxophone, encouraged Myron to take home an old alto saxophone from the school storage closet. By studying Charlie Parker's album art and listening to his uncle's record, Myron taught himself to play the saxophone.

Myron's first formal instruction came during middle school at the Harlem School of The Arts' after school program. Myron attended LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts in New York City, and after graduation attended the Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1994. That previous year, he won the prestigious Lincoln Center Charlie Parker Competition.

During the 1990s, Myron established his credentials as a performer in New York's jazz scene, and was a fixture at the legendary Small's, a fertile ground for the nurturing of new jazz talent. As he shared the stage with Nat Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, and Roy Hargrove, his stature as a performer grew. Myron also developed his skills as a composer and, during this period, his compositions were recorded by Antoine Roney, Ravi Coltrane, Vincent Herring, Carl Allen and Winard Harper.

In 1996, Myron's debut album, 'Hypnosis,' was released to great critical acclaim, followed in 1999 by 'Like a Flower Seeking the Sun,' both from NYC Records. In 2002, 'Higher Ground' premiered, with 'This Way' appearing in 2005. The latter were released on Fresh Sound New Talent Records. Myron composed and arranged original music for all four recordings.

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13
Album Review

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Kings Highway

Read "Kings Highway" reviewed by Cary Tenenbaum


The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines fellowship as “community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience," which seems to state well what Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band have been doing, cultivating a certain sound for over 25 years. The community is drummer Brian Blade, pianist Jon Cowherd, saxophonist Melvin Butler, saxophonist and clarinetist Myron Walden, bassist and synthesizer player Christopher Thomas and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. The interest and activity these folks share is playing music, specifically jazz music. Finally, the feeling or ...

Album Review

Somi: Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba

Read "Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Il legame musicale e simbolico con l'Africa resta centrale nella produzione artistica di Somi, la vocalist e cantautrice statunitense dai genitori africani giunta al successo con gli album The Lagos Music Saloon e Holy Room. Il suo nuovo progetto è dedicato a Miriam Makeba, che avrebbe compiuto 90 anni il 4 marzo, data di pubblicazione del presente album. I brani in scaletta, tutti presi dallo storico repertorio della cantante, sono condivisi col musical Dreaming Zenzile, che Somi ...

113
Working Out to Jazz

Recent Releases For Running

Read "Recent Releases For Running" reviewed by Chris Lawhorn


[Editor's Note: Working Out to Jazz is a new All About Jazz column, devoted to providing jazz playlists for the purpose of working out. For his second installment, Chris Lawhorn's emphasis is on largely up-tempo tracks from a handful of recent releases. Check in with Working Out to Jazz regularly, for new workout music suggestions, as Chris breaks it out for you by Beats Per Minute (BPM).] For this month's playlist, I've tried to highlight a few recent ...

403
Multiple Reviews

Myron Walden: Momentum & Momentum Live

Read "Myron Walden: Momentum & Momentum Live" reviewed by George Kanzler


Myron WaldenMomentumDemi Sound2010 Artist #2Momentum LiveDemi Sound2010 Momentum is both album title and the name Myron Walden has used for one of his ensembles, inspired by the '60s Miles Davis Quintet (another ensemble, Myron Walden In This World, seems poised at the intersection of Windham Hill and ECM dale). Like Wayne Shorter in that ...

1,067
Interview

Myron Walden: Eclectic Reedman

Read "Myron Walden: Eclectic Reedman" reviewed by Edward Bride


In words often used to describe the music of Duke Ellington, Myron Walden is a saxophonist beyond category. More so than many other musicians, Walden himself eschews reliance on any one instrument, not tenor or alto nor soprano nor bass nor... well, you get the idea. The voice that he is striving to use in any particular setting can vary widely from time to time; there is no favorite child in this man's family of instruments.

540
Album Review

Myron Walden: Momentum

Read "Momentum" reviewed by John Kelman


Sometimes a break can be the best thing a musician can take. Not getting tired by any means, if a four-year sabbatical from recording as a leader results in as strong a comeback as reedman Myron Walden's, perhaps artists should take breaks more often. A charter member of drummer Brian Blade's Fellowship Band, Walden is back with not one, but three CDs over the next couple months. The first, Momentum, is a potent modern mainstream set that takes trumpet icon ...

231
Album Review

Myron Walden: This Way

Read "This Way" reviewed by Javier AQ Ortiz


Alto saxophonist Myron Walden's quartet on This Way, featuring bassist Vicente Archer, drummer E.J. Strickland, and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, is quite robust.The musicians engage in a scorching pursuit of heavy swinging and melodically dissonant bopping on “Like I See It. As the saxophonists burn with discriminating abandon, their respective approach to thematic progressions within their solos is revealing. The temporal, harmonic, tonal, and rhythmic interplay between Greene and Walden is somewhat similar nonetheless. Virtuosity, among other things, ...

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76

Recording

Myron Walden's Youthful Inspiration Reborn

Myron Walden's Youthful Inspiration Reborn

Source: Michael Ricci

NYC sax man Myron Walden departs from the standard jazz idiom with Myron Walden Countryfied (out in June from Demi Sound Records), a funky, down-home project where “lithe, Southern soul-drenched melodies" (JazzTimes) meet a little blues and rock and roll. An early Countryfied performance at NYC venue Pianos showed the sheer energy of the group. Countryfied, Walden says, is “down-home music. Nod your head, tap your foot, say 'Amen.' From the first bar, we're in the groove." Countryfied results from ...

230

Performance / Tour

Myron Walden to Perform at Jazz Standard on March 9th

Myron Walden to Perform at Jazz Standard on March 9th

Source: Michael Ricci

Myron Walden In This World will play a release event at New York's Jazz Standard March 9 as the albums 'To Feel' and 'What We Share, ' praised for their “introspective textures" by Down Beat, will be released by Demi Sound Records that day. The band will be: Myron Walden - Soprano/Tenor Saxophones and Bass Clarinet Mike Moreno - Acoustic and Electric Guitars Jon Cowherd - Piano and Fender Rhodes Yasushi Nakamura - Acoustic ...

278

Performance / Tour

Myron Walden Comes Full Circle with Smoke Debut Jan. 29 and 30

Myron Walden Comes Full Circle with Smoke Debut Jan. 29 and 30

Source: Michael Ricci

Myron Walden has achieved acclaim with his dynamic, propulsive and evocative jazz compositions, but on January 29 and 30, the saxophonist returns to his roots, playing two nights at New York City's Smoke. As a teenager, Walden spent every Friday and Saturday night in the snug jazz club Smoke (then Augie's), immersed in the music of bebop saxophonist Jesse Davis. “I remember listening to Jesse Davis and being awed by his spirit. Well before I had training to understand the ...

166

Interview

Reedman Myron Walden Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Reedman Myron Walden Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz

In words often used to describe the music of Duke Ellington, Myron Walden is a saxophonist beyond category. More so than many other musicians, Walden himself eschews reliance on any one instrument, not tenor or alto nor soprano nor bass nor ... well, you get the idea. The voice that he is striving to use in any particular setting can vary widely from time to time; there is no favorite child in this man's family of instruments.

The same can ...

189

Recording

Download Two Free Tracks from Myron Walden's "Momentum"

Download Two Free Tracks from Myron Walden's "Momentum"

Source: Michael Ricci

For a limited time, you can download two free MP3s from reedman Myron Walden's latest release Momentum.

And while you're listening to “Miles" and “What Goes Up Must Come Down," you can read AAJ's review of Momentum and read our interview Myron Walden: Eclectic Reedman.

Featured Download Tracks

Miles Myron Walden Momentum 4:10 What Goes Up Must Come Down Myron Walden Momentum 5:23

About ...

150

Interview

Jazz Saxophonist Myron Walden Returns with New 'Momentum'

Jazz Saxophonist Myron Walden Returns with New 'Momentum'

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner

By Tad Hendrickson

Jazz has had its fair share of players who have put their careers on hold to do some woodshedding. The most well-known example is probably Sonny Rollins' 1959-61 sabbatical where he studied philosophy and yoga, traveled and (most famously) practiced on New York's Williamsburg Bridge at night. Oftentimes, these searching musicians return to their art with new vigor and, hopefully, an artistic breakthrough. Such is the case for saxophonist Myron Walden, who hasn't released an album since ...

123

Performance / Tour

Myron Walden a Jazz Saxophonist Who Embraces Earnestness

Myron Walden a Jazz Saxophonist Who Embraces Earnestness

Source: Michael Ricci

The saxophonist Myron Walden was cultivated at Smalls, New Yorks magic garden for jazz musicians in the 1990s. There, in groups and on his own, he began to find his sound and style and temperament as an improviser, most often on alto saxophone.

Hes been methodical and emotional, energetic and honest, following chord changes with a focused tone until his long notes start to ripen and burst in the upper register.

Hes done this in various settings. One has been ...

150

Interview

A Jazz Saxophonist Who Embraces Earnestness

A Jazz Saxophonist Who Embraces Earnestness

Source: Michael Ricci

The saxophonist Myron Walden was cultivated at Smalls, New York’s magic garden for jazz musicians in the 1990s. There, in groups and on his own, he began to find his sound and style and temperament as an improviser, most often on alto saxophone. He’s been methodical and emotional, energetic and honest, following chord changes with a focused tone until his long notes start to ripen and burst in the upper register. He’s done this in various settings. One has been ...

199

Recording

Myron Walden Returns from Recording Sabbatical

Myron Walden Returns from Recording Sabbatical

Source: Michael Ricci

Much like Sonny Rollins before him, the gifted saxophonist Myron Walden has taken a sabbatical from recording to master the tenor saxophone, woodshed, and compose; this winter will see his reemergence, with the release of three albums of original material. Demi Sound Records will release Momentum on November 17 with In This World and Countrified following in January, 2010. Momentum consists of original compositions inspired by the works of Miles Davis' 1960s aggregations. Joining Walden are Darren Barrett (Roy Hargrove, ...

148

Performance / Tour

Saco Yasuma's "Another Rain" (Mon) Russ Spiegel Sextet (Tue) Dan McCarthy Trio Feat. Myron Walden (Wed) Jeff Williams QT & More This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

Saco Yasuma's "Another Rain" (Mon) Russ Spiegel Sextet (Tue) Dan McCarthy Trio Feat. Myron Walden (Wed) Jeff Williams QT & More This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York 212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Week At Cornelia Street Cafe Mon Jul 30 8:30PM CD RELEASE EVENT SACO YASUMA'S “ANOTHER RAIN" (Saco Yasuma, alto saxophone, Xaphoon, compositions;Roy Campbell Jr., trumpet, flugelhorn;Andrew Bemkey, piano, bass clarinet;Ken Filiano, bass;Michael T.A. ...

"Now this is what I call A young lion." - Ron Carter
Adam Nolan
saxophone
Kevin Huang
saxophone, alto

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Kings Highway

Stoner Hill
2023

buy

Zenzile: The...

Self Produced
2022

buy

Momentum

Demi Sound Records
2009

buy

This Way

Fresh Sound Records
2005

buy

Higher Ground

Blue Moon
2002

buy

Miles

From: Momentum
By Myron Walden

What Goes Up Must Come Down

From: Momentum
By Myron Walden

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