Entry Category: Jazz - Starting with N

Walter Norris created an amalgamation of jazz improvisation with classical music in a style that no other pianist has duplicated. His varied career included eight years as a pianist, musical director, and entertainment manager for New York’s Playboy Club. In addition, he authored noted books on the piano. Walter Norris was born on December 27, 1931, in Little Rock (Pulaski County). His father, Lucian Norris, was an accountant for the Federal Reserve Bank. Walter Norris began studying classical piano at the age of five, was playing “boogie woogie” by eight, and was playing in local bands by twelve. After graduation from Central High School, he began playing with Mose Allison on a southern tour. From 1950 to 1952, he served in …

The Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society is a nonprofit membership organization that seeks to present, preserve, promote, and celebrate jazz music through education, concert presentation, and artist promotion. The organization’s musicians primarily play jazz for a living or on a gig-to-gig basis, and the NAJS offers a way to connect with other players. The NAJS was founded by Robert Ginsburg in 1992. Since that time, it has presented world-class jazz performers in venues across northwestern Arkansas. Notable players the NAJS has brought in from across the country include Pat Metheny, Joey DeFrancesco, Ray Anderson, Lucy Woodward, the Yellow Jackets, Greg Osby, Sheila Jordan, Bobby Watson, David Sanchez, Claudia Acuña, Kenny Barron, Eliane Elias, Bill Frisell, Bob Dorough, and Kevin Mahogany, among …