Ken Walker

Ken Walker Sextet: Terra Firma

by Paul Olson
May 9, 2005

You don't hear much about the Denver jazz scene, but bassist Ken Walker's Terra Firma provides incontrovertible evidence that there are at least six splendid jazz musicians working in that city. Walker's sextet includes drummer Paul Romaine, tenor man Peter Sommer, trumpeter Al Hood, guitarist Dave Corbus, and pianist Jeff Jenkins. Their 2002 session is an antidote to ears fatigued by the mathematical tempos and hypervirtuosity of the contemporary New York scene--wonderful though it is. Instead, it's hard bop and ...