Walter Thomas

Walter Thomas has produced multiple original recordings that fuse contemporary jazz with rhythm and blues. Saxophonist and composer David Tasse stands as one of his chief collaborators. Between them they have earned backing credits for rhythm and blues acts such as Bette Wright and Wilson Pickett respectively. Both musicians also follow a D.I.Y. ethos, issuing their work on Tasse’s Bay Breeze label as well as Thomas’s own self-titled imprint.

Thomas favors concise, punchy pieces whose titles sometimes carry evocative weight, among them the stimulating “Wake Up” and the absolving “Second Chance.” He is not to be mistaken for the swing-era reed player Walter “Foots” Thomas, celebrated for more than ten years of work with Cab Calloway.