Aaron Walker music

On August 19th, 1979, Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin unknowingly brought a stowaway on their spaceship, the soul of a little boy named Aaron, who landed in Boulder, Colorado. Struggling to come to terms with his newfound existence as a space soul trapped on Earth, Aaron found solace in expressing his cosmic emotions through music. He saved up his allowance and purchased a small Casio keyboard, a $30 toy, which was a wondrous technological and artistic portal that filled him with joy as he listened to the electronic "samba" beats and analog "rock" rhythms programmed into the toy. However, when he was seven tragedy struck when his favorite Michael Jackson cassette tape was devoured by an evil boom box, leaving him heartbroken and crying on the floor. Despite this setback, Aaron's love for music only grew stronger, and it was around this time that he discovered his lifelong passion for the guitar. His adoptive Earthling mother recognized his talent and bought him a guitar, enrolling him in lessons at the age of seven. Over the years, he explored a range of musical styles, from thumb-picking and power chords to jazz and classical. He ventured into Trini steel drum music, playful swing, bluegrass, and any other folk style he could listen to. On one fateful day his life was changed when he was confronted with the compositions and the virtuosity of gypsy jazz guitarist Gonzalo Bergara. The music hit him like a brick to the head, and made him reconsider the possibilities of sound, virtuosity and unbridled creativity. Aaron's passion for music led him to pursue a degree in music composition, where he earned a Masters in Theory and Composition. While at first his compositions were a wild cacophonous sound blending the influences of swing, impressionism, classical, choro, tango, samba, bluegrass and soca, his professors and instructors through his masters programs beat, whipped, scorned, and humiliated him, forging him into a sharp multifaceted Damascus steel slicing through the nonsense and getting right to the story. While certainly Aaron appreciated the beatings, whippings, and humiliations dealt out by his academic professors, Aaron feels his true and most meaningful education came from playing alongside the many talented Gypsy Jazz artists he had the privilege of performing with, including his two heroes and mentors, Joscho Stephan and Gonzalo Bergara. The adventures for Aaron continued as he scored a feature-length score for a Regional Emmy-nominated sports documentary, performed with Iceland's guitar hero Bjorn Thoroddsen in Iceland, and spent time in the USCG reserves as a boat engineer on a search and rescue team. However, the biggest adventure was marrying his wife and adopting their two sons, who inspire all the music he plays. Aaron's journey is a testament to the fact that true passion for music can lead to a lifetime of joy, fulfillment, and adventure. What's adventure comes next? Well. . . that is up to you. . . Pound the contact button and let's see where this adventure will goes. . .

Claude Sim enjoys a varied music career as an orchestral principal, chamber musician, and multi-genre performing artist. He was appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony at age 21 by then music director Marin Alsop. He previously held an Associate Principal Violin position with the Baltimore Symphony and has served in guest artist capacities including guest Concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony, Principal Second Violin of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and section first violin with The Philadelphia Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Claude has collaborated with Jeffrey Kahane, Lee Luvisi, and Christopher O'Riley, and has also served as guest First Violin and Violist with the Miro and Pacifica Quartets. As a passionate advocate of bridging styles and bending musical genres, Claude is the solo violinist of Extasis, the Argentine tango ensemble. He has recorded a standard jazz album with trumpeter Greg Gisbert, and has shared the stage with fiddler Eileen Ivers, Warren Haynes, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Victor and Roy Wooten of the Flecktones. Sim is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Bassist Gary Sloan has music in his blood: his father started the first blues band in the state of Alaska and continues to entertain over fifty years later. After the family relocated to a small town in rural Arkansas, Gary began performing with his father on trombone in and around Kansas City before he teaching himself electric bass and joining his father's band on bass while playing in his high school rock band. At the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Gary found his voice on the acoustic bass and served as principal in the orchestra for three years while earning his most valuable education gigging with every jazz act in town. Given his background in his father's groove-oriented improvisatory blues combined with a passion for harmony and interaction, Gary was a natural for jazz and it soon became his main outlet for expression. Gary received a Summer Jazz Scholarship from the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society (NAJS) in 2010 the next year Gary's original music was featured at the NAJS Composer's showcase and his quartet was nominated for the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards Best Jazz Group. After graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Gary taught up to 40 students a week on guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, and ukulele at a local music store. Gary could also be found performing with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, the pit orchestra for TheatreSquared musical productions, and a wide range rock, funk, and blues bands. In 2013 he moved to Boulder, CO to pursue a Master's of Music in Jazz Performance & Pedagogy at the University of Colorado. The vibrant, supportive jazz community has kept him busy in Boulder, Denver, Ft. Collins and surrounding areas performing all eras of jazz from the 1900s to today. Additionally, he continued to expand his wide musical interests with CenterStage musical productions, the Boulder Symphony, bluegrass groups, and more. He currently plays electric bass for a number of blues band including Roots & Rhythm as well wedding/dance bands and Wildflower School of Voice. He remains active on both slide and valve trombones in swing/hot jazz groups and has recently added tuba to his repertoire, performing with the Colorado Conservatory for Jazz Arts Brass Band as well as his own group co-lead by David Lawrence of LAPOMPE, the Royal Street Ramblers. He performs throughout the country with Joe Smith & the Spicy Pickles, a 7-piece 1930s/40s jazz band, including swing dance events and jazz festivals from San Diego to upstate New York. He has had the pleasure of playing with a who's who list of international Gypsy jazz artists (including Joshcho Stephan, Gonzalo Bergara, Olli Soikkeli, Jason Anick and more) with Denver guitarist Aaron Walker the group is released their debut album "Bounce" this spring featuring many of these guest musicians. Gary is also an active educator, teaching for the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts, the Summit High School Jazz Workshop, the Gift of Jazz: Jazz for the Schools Program, as well as his own private studio. Driven by his melodic sense and rhythmic acuity and informed by his perspective as a mulit-instrumentalist, Gary's philosophy as a bassist is deep yet simple- above all else, the role of a bassist is to support his fellow musicians in a way that enhances the music to make the entire experience sound and feel its best.

Coming soon. . .