User:Peter Welker/sandbox

Peter Welker comes by his musical talent " honestly "......Both his mother and father were band leaders...His mother Elisabeth was born blind and was an exceptional jazz pianist and vocalist. His father Herb was a jazz pianist as well. Peter's uncle Pete was the drummer with Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra for a few years. Both Peter's mother and father worked in Boston and New York City while his uncle worked out of Los Angeles. Peter attended the Berklee College Of Music in Boston from 1959 until 1961. Many of his classmates became world famous after leaving Berklee. Gary Burton, Keith Jarrett, Mike Nock, Hal Galper, Gabor Szabo, Alf Clausen, Bill Chase, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ray Pizzi, Fred Lipsius ( co leader of Blood, Sweat and Tears...he wrote " Spinning Wheel " )and Tony Williams. While Peter was living in Boston, he was able to play with some of these great musicians.In September of 1962, Peter boarded a Greyhound bus bound for San Francisco. He ended up in the Haight Ashbury district where he lived for 5 years playing with many great local jazz musicians in jazz clubs such as The Both/ And Club,Bop City and Soulville. In 1963, Peter put together a sextet which included pianist George Duke and that band became the house band at the famed Jazz Workshop in North Beach and played there for 4 years.In 1968, Peter joined a new 8 piece horn band that included trumpet player Tom Harrell and trombonist Steve Turre. That band worked steadily for 2 years and recorded an album called" RUSH ". In 1969 he joined a 12 piece latin band, Cesar's Latin Jazz Orchestra, and he played 4 nites a week in North Beach with an all star cast which included Tom Harrell, Bob Ferriera, Steve Turre, Benny Velarde , Coke Escovedo and Victor Pantoja. From 1971 until 1980, Peter toured and recorded with; Van Morrison, Cold Blood, Buddy Miles, Malo, Jesse Colin Young,Jerry Garcia and Dr. John. Over the last 30 years, Peter has been doing lots of studio work. producing and arranging for his bands and various artists such as Tom Waits and Joyce Cooling. In 1995 he joined renowned producer and drummer Narada Michael Walden's all star band. This band went to Japan on tour for 2 weeks in 1995. The all star members included; Joe Zawinul, Sheila E., Patti Austin, Alphonso Johnson, Alex Acuna, Mickey Thomas, Kirk Whalum and Clarence Clemens. The band SOLD OUT all of their concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. Please check out www.peterwelker.com