J. Walter Hawkes: Adventures in Music

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

J. Walter Hawkes is a 4-time Emmy-winning composer for the PBS series Peg + Cat and Wonder Pets, is a renowned jazz trombone player, and also performs as a jazz vocalist, ukulele player, and pianist. As a young man, he survived a horrible accident which changed the course of his life. We talk about this and his mentors including the legendary Slide Hampton, how he got into composing for Blues Clues, and many hilarious and heart-warming personal stories. Those of you who listened to my episode with Pat Irwin will remember his album Wide Open Sky with Walter, and we’re featuring two pieces from that album in this episode along with an impromptu performance of Cole Porter’s Get Out of Town. Walter’s love of adventure really comes through in this conversation, and it’s really inspiring to hear how he’s built such an interesting career in music. You can use the timestamps (listed below) to navigate, and like all my episodes, you can listen to this on your podcast player, watch the YouTube video, or read the transcript, all linked here to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/j-walter-hawkes

Pat Irwin episode: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/pat-irwin

J. Walter Hawkes website: https://jwalterhawkes.com/about

Can you buy me a coffee to support this channel and this podcast? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Please do sign up for my newsletter to get access to Sneak Peeks: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

DeWitt Fleming with The Hot Sardines: https://youtu.be/Va68n60B3js?si=ida_ujyhVvRXG_iJ

The February video on Walter's YouTube is here: https://youtu.be/XJOeV0mVcgA?si=IZpS8B1MzXa6CEUV

My Linktree with social media links: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

( 01:45) Wide Open Sky album with Pat Irwin, story of February and old family film

(10:17) February

(12:06) the story of the accident

(24:05) please support the podcast! Buy me a coffee? Thanks!

(24:43) intro to For a Dance

(26:03) For a Dance from Wide Open Sky

(29:44) piano, The Hot Sardines

(32:32) North Texas experience

(39:40) Emmys, composing for children’s tv Peg+Cat, Wonder Pets, Blues Clues

(48:49) ukulele stories

(01:00:00) intro to Cole Porter’s Get Out of Town

(01:00:50) Get Out of Town by Cole Porter

(01:02:55) Nora Jones, career regrets, dealing with stagefright

(01:14:33) Slide Hampton, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band

(01:22:29) early NYC days, traditional jazz scene

(01:26:24) memorization skills

(01:28:31) electronics, old computers, instruments

(01:35:40) importance of mentorship, Duncan Goff, Jerry Ball, Sol Yaged, balancing his career between playing and composing

(01:45:42) how Walter started composing for Blues Clues, how the accident affected his career