Walt Weiskopf

Jazz tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf was born in Augusta, Georgia on July 30, 1959. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, he began playing clarinet at the age of 10 and switched to saxophone when he was 14. After earning his BA in Music Performance at the University of Rochester (New York), he moved to New York City and began his music career. In 1981, he began playing in the Buddy Rich Big Band before joining the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra in 1983, a position he held for 14 years. Walt Weiskopf appeared on several albums with Toshiko Akiyoshi and saxophonist Lew Tabackin before releasing Exact Science (1989), his solo debut. He then spent two years studying the clarinet at Queens College of the City of New York, where he earned a Master of Arts degree. While continuing to release a series of solo albums, he also performed with the Gotham Chamber Orchestra, the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and the American Composers Orchestra. In 2002, he joined Steely Dan and appeared on their Everything Must Go album the following year. This led to his position as a member of the Donald Fagen Band. In 2018, he debuted his project, the Walt Weiskopf European Quartet with the release of their self-titled album. They followed that album with Worldwide (2019), Introspection (2020), and Introspection 2.0 (2021). Walt Weiskopf has also appeared as a sideman on albums by Frank Sinatra, Jr., Dave Stryker, Linda Eder, Renee Rosnes, Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy, and many others. As an author, he has penned several books including Coltrane: A Player’s Guide (1991) and Around the Horn: 21 Modal Scales and Arpeggios Every Jazz Musician Needs to Know (2000).

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