Tom Walsh
Active Performer and Educator
Tom Walsh is Robert J. Waller Sr. and Robert J. Waller Jr. Professor of Music, professor of music in saxophone, and chair of the Department of Jazz Studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
An active performer of jazz and classical music, he has presented concerts and workshops in China, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, and across the United States. Premiere performances include Scott Jones’ concert band arrangement of Russell Peck’s The Upward Stream (2013), Chris Rutkowski’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (2008), and David Baker’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2004).
Most recently, he is featured on Mike Hackett’s CD New Point of View (Summit Records, 2013) and on two CDs released on the IUMusic label: Holiday Celebration (2011) and Sylvia McNair’s Romance (2012). His latest solo CD release is Intersections (Arizona University Recordings, 2010), featuring Luke Gillespie on piano. Earlier solo CDs include New Life (2002) and Shaking the Pumpkin (1998). Other CD releases include David Baker’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Paul Freeman Introduces David Baker, Volume XII—Albany Recordings), Basically Baker with the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (GM Recordings), and Sky Scrapings: Saxophone Music of Don Freund (AUR Recordings).
Walsh has performed and presented at conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education, Jazz Education Network, North American Saxophone Alliance, and World Saxophone Congress. At the January 2014 Jazz Education Network Conference in Dallas, he presented “Steps to Better Ballad Playing” and performed with the Mike Hackett Quintet. A Yamaha Performing Artist and Vandoren Artist, he has taught at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops since 1991.
Walsh holds degrees in saxophone performance and jazz studies from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were distinguished classical saxophonist Eugene Rousseau and renowned jazz educator David Baker. Other influential teachers in his development were Mike Tracy, Pat LaBarbera, Jerry Coker, and David Liebman.