Weasel Walter

Multi-instrumentalist/composer/improviser born 1972 in Rockford, Illinois, probably best known to the general public as being a very fast, high-energy percussionist fusing free jazz and black/death/speed metal approaches. Weasel Walter (first name, last name) moved to Chicago in 1990 and founded the mercurial jazz/punk/noise/metal/prog project the Flying Luttenbachers in late 1991 with Hal Russell. In its various incarnations the group recorded 16 full-length albums and toured the United States and Europe extensively.

During the early-to-mid '90s Mr. Walter proved to be a significant catalyst in the Chicago underground rock and improvised music scenes, forging strong connections between the two camps. Walter founded the weekly (and still extant) Myopic Books Improvised Music Workshop in early 1994 and performed improvised music with dozens of musicians including Kevin Drumm, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Jim Baker, Gene Coleman, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim O'Rourke, Mars Williams, Jeff Parker and Michael Zerang. Mr. Walter has performed and recorded with scores of underground rock bands like the Flying Luttenbachers, Lake Of Dracula, Burmese, Lair of the Minotaur, Bobby Conn, Erase Errata, XBXRX and Curse of the Birthmark. Weasel Walter relocated to Oakland, California in 2003. In 2005, after a long sabbatical from improvising, Walter established a shape-shifting free jazz ensemble under his own name which has featured various combinations of musicians like Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith, William Winant, Jon Raskin, Randy Hunt and Aram Shelton as well as performing in many ad-hoc improvisational combinations.