news from mark

Funk Tango Wins Latin Grammy!

Funk Tango [Paquito Records] by Paquito D'Rivera Quintet featuring
Mark Walker - drums
Paquito D'Rivera - alto saxophone
Pernell Saturnino - percussion
Diego Urcola - trumpet
Hector Del Curto - bandoneon
Oscar Stagnaro - bass guitar
Fernando Otero, Ed Simon, Alon Yaunai - piano
was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album in the upcoming Latin Grammy Awards!!

New CD Releases:

10000 Kilometers [Cam Jazz] by Oregon
Mark Walker - drums
Paul McCandless - bass clarinet
Ralph Towner - classical guitar
Glen Moore - double bass

From the amazing review by John Kelman in AllAbout Jazz: "Oregon may well be the longest-running group in jazz today, with three of its four members together since its inception in 1970. Its ability to combine detailed composition with near-telepathic free improvisation can still be heard on 1000 Kilometers, the group's 24th recording, but what's also immediately evident is a group that's by no means standing still....drummer/percussionist Mark Walker has been with the group for more than a decade, so it's time to stop considering him the new kid on the block. Opening 1000 Kilometers with his propulsive and Latinesque ÒDeep SixÓ--Walker's first tune to be featured on an Oregon record*--it's clear that he's an integral part of the group's current soundscape. It may be only possible to fully appreciate his remarkable ability to combine a conventional drum kit with an array of hand and electronic percussion when seen in performance, but itÕs become a new fundamental for the group, one of many factors that keeps Oregon from being caught in a stylistic time warp."
*And Mark's first individual Grammy nomination, for Best Instrumental Composition!! Educational Activities:

Associate Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music; teaching Brazilian percussion and all-around drumset; Presenting new course: "South American Rhythms for Drumset"

--mark

My Grammy Awards Experience by Michelle Walker (Feb. 2008)

We arrived in LA on Saturday afternoon on a luxurious first class flight (thanks to Mark's accumulation of miles) with modern fully reclining leather chairs that nestled us perfectly as we caught some sleep in order to be wide awake for our big weekend at the 50th Grammy Award show in Los Angeles. We checked into our hotel, which had a special rate just for Grammy nominees, and it was actually 10 dollars more than their standard rate! What an honor.

That evening there was a special presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Awards and a special Nominees Reception. Not all the recipients of the lifetime awards were there, either they had other commitments or were dead, but it was awesome to see legends like Quincy Jones and Robbie Robertson (The Band) in person, Doris Day sent a very sweet letter of thanks that was read by the head honcho of the Grammy Awards.

Also that night, all the nominees received a medal and our photo taken by some artsy professional photographer, hopefully they'll send it to us soon! It will be the only picture we have from the whole event, as the Grammy Foundation said, according to all the large signs at all their events, that it did not allow cameras at any of the awards ceremonies or the after-party. I guess that only the big celebrities are allowed to have more than one photo of themselves, because that's all that anyone took of any of the not-so-famous.

There was also lots of great food and drink at the Saturday night reception for the nominees with great performances by student orchestras and singers. The nominees also received a large print of the artwork especially commission for the 50th Grammy Awards and personally autographed by the artist. A nice little perk!

It was at the pre-telecast party earlier on Sunday, where Mark's categories were announced, along with about 99 other categories. It was very interesting, the only big names that showed up to receive their awards there were Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Herbie Hancock and the Foo Fighters, and all were very gracious. No sight of Bruce Springsteen or Prince who won for categories announced at that time and I didn't see any other famous people as I walked around. But, I did meet some other very talented nominees and winners who are wonderful people. In particular, Angelique Kidjo of Benin, Africa who won for Contemporary World Music album, she was a hoot!

Mark didn't win the category he was personally nominated for (Best Instrumental Composition), but his group led by Paquito D' Rivera did for Best Latin Jazz album and he went up to accept! He thanked the members of NARAS (the body that nominates and votes) on behalf of Paquito and the other members, but was a little nervous and he forgot to introduce himself! It was a thrill to see him accept the award! He was nervous but beaming, and didn't feel slighted that he didn't win for his category. It was his freshman effort, and while the most famous people in his category didn't win, the person who won was a female composer/arranger who has really paid her dues, so to speak, in that field.

After the pre-telecast ceremonies were over, it was straight over to the Staples Center next door for the televised awards show. We didn't get to enter the through the red carpet area that the celebrity nominees got to walk, rather we had to come in through the side door and through metal detectors!

We were seated on the main floor, way back just beyond the end of the stage runway (where Fergie and John Legend performed, if you saw the show). Again, we were pretty segregated from all the really famous people.

However, Mark and I were (un)lucky to have the lead singer, Tom Araya from the thrash metal band Slayer, seated right in front of us. Tom was with his family (wife and two kids) and they all were very polite and nice. However, Tom's massive head of thrash metal rocker hair frequently blocked our view of the stage! Oh well, we could see better on the large monitors anyway!

My only other brush with a celebrity was when I passed within inches of Cher on my way to the bathroom during a commercial break. Cher looked beautiful in an eerily flawless, like a mannequin, way and was questioning her assistant as I passed about what she was supposed to do (she was going to do an introduction for a performance).

My other favorite highlights of the show, which were amazing to see live/in person: an intro by Tom Hanks (looking wholesomely handsome); Stevie Wonder (always a fave of mine); performances by Cirque du Soleil and a young lad who sang soulfully, to Beatles songs from the movie Across The Universe; Kanye West singing "Hey Mama" almost brought me to tears.

And the best moment was a couple categories after Kanye West accepted for Best Rap something or other and gave a pompous acceptance speech -- Ringo Starr presents Vince Gil with the Grammy for Best Country Album. Vince Gill says something like "wow, I can't believe that I've been handed a Grammy by a Beatle!". He looks over at Kanye in the audience and says "Have you had that happen to you yet, Kanye" -- SNAP!! The whole audience went crazy (Kanye's speech was very egotistical, but he's young and I'm sure didn't intend for it all to sound like how it did).

Now, the most important information of all, is what I wore! I had planned to wear two dresses. I wore a purple satin knee length sheath for the day ceremony with sexy, pointy, toe cleavage showing, textured gold pumps. It was a nice ensemble but was a little wrinkly and stretched out by the end of the night. I had planned to go back to the hotel, which was only a mile away, between the day ceremony and evening telecast to change into the killer, body hugging, plunging neckline, black sheath that I had, but it turned out that there was not enough time. Oh well, for another occasion some other time!

Immediately after the telecast, there was a fantastic party next door at the LA Convention Center that the nominees were all invited to, along with all the people who bought tickets to the televised show and and paid to attend. We were so hungry (we had left the hotel at 11am that morning), that we left the live show about 15 minutes or so before it ended. The only thing he had to eat that day after our breakfast, was the hot dog we were able to get at the concession stand at Staples Center between shows. It was a funny site to see all these people dressed to the nines cramming hot dogs and nachos down their throats!

Anyway, the after-party was phenomenal! The decor was elegant and there had to be about a 1000 people at this party, but there was plenty of food (by Wolfgang Puck) and drink. At the party, there were also performances by Natasha Bedingfield (something like that) and Cyndi Lauper (who looks great), both awesome! Again, no other famous celebrities were there.

On the way back to our hotel, gift bags were handed out to all the guests that contained some Bed Head hair care products and a couple of Kinerase facial products. The so called, "Gifting Suite", with big time loot, was only available for the celebrity nominees. Like they couldn't afford to buy their own!!

In fact, the whole set up of the ceremonies and parties is strictly segregated to make sure that there is no mingling of the "famous" and "non-famous", or rather the big money makers versus the other 90 percent of the musicians and singers in the business of making all kinds of great music.

Overall, we had a great time. We enjoyed the company of some amazing and wonderful people. Especially the president and managers from the record company (CamJazz) that recorded the Oregon album from which Mark's tune was nominated. It's a small Italian recording company, but they have a deep appreciation for fine music and they are a lot of fun to hang out with.

We stayed as long as we could but eventually had to get back to the hotel for a few hours sleep before our 7am flight back home. It couldn't have been any more fitting to find that our plane home was a run down 757 with wobbly tray tables and torn first class seats, that of course, did not fully recline. Back to reality!

Mark's going keep on composing and arranging, so maybe we'll make it back there again! Next time though, I'll be sure to fill my evening bag with Power Bars.

• Stay tuned for more additions to this site. We're planning to feature drum lessons online, so keep watching this space for more info.
• And don't forget to check the latest tour dates.
• Archived news can be found here.