Lonie Walker
Encyclopedia
Biography
Walker has been a jazz artist for several decades and is the leader singer of her Big Bad Ass Company. She began at nightclubNightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s to spring her career.
She is the owner of the Underground Wonder Bar in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where she and her band play. The Underground Wonder Bar is located a half a mile away from Rush Street
Rush Street (Chicago)
Rush Street is predominantly a northbound one-way street in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States...
.
Walker's Big Bad Ass Company Band have performed over 2,000 live shows and released three album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s on her Underground Wonder Music label. Walker, who is the only female musician, is the band's leader, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and vocalist. Herb Walker is their guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, with Joe Thomas bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, Kevin Patrick percussionist, James Perkins saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, and Luiz Ewerling percussionist
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
.
Since the mid 1990s, Walker has also been an organiser of performances for the benefit of non-profit organisations.
Discography
- All That I Got I Gave to Music (1995)
- Live in Paris (1998)
- Change is Good (2002)
- Live in Berlin (2004)