jack walrath

jack walrath

Jack Walrath, trumpeter, composer, arranger, has had an active varied career for over 50 years. His credits include work with Ray Charles, Charlie Persip, Miles Davis, and Quincy Jones. He worked alongside Charles Mingus towards the end of Mingus's life, from 1974 until 1979 when Charles could no longer play (due to ALS) and was singing compositions into a tape recorder. It was a close relation that changed his life. He was trusted by Mingus to assist in realizing some of those later compositions, which became works such as Invisible Lady, and Sketch 3. As a sideman in Mingus's last great quintet, he contributed his characteristic sound to the seminal albums Changes One and Changes Two, Three or Four Shades of Blues, Cumbia & Jazz Fusion. He later joined Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Big Band and toured with 1989 Mingus Epitaph, conducted by Gunther Schuller.

He is also a prolific composer (Mingus recorded Jack's own "Black Bats & Poles") and active bandleader with his own project featuring contemporary greats like Donald Edwards and Abraham Burton. He has appeared in films, TV, and radio and has over two dozen album releases as a leader. In California, he co-led the bands Change with Gary Peacock, and Revival with Glenn Ferris.