The NOWnet, led by Jeremy Walker, is one of the premier jazz ensembles in the Midwest and one of the few groups in the country solely dedicated to composing and performing original music. The ensemble performs regularly in the Twin Cities and across the state, and has been extensively praised by local and national critics.
To listen to samples of NOWnet music, please visit our press page.
MEET THE NOWNET
Jeremy Walker: bandleader, pianist
Walker started playing the saxophone at age ten. At fourteen, he began studying jazz and has been intimately involved in this art form ever since. He has studied improvisation with Ted Nash and Benny Golson, among others. Walker’s professional career has included work with Wynton Marsalis, Anthony Cox, Wessell Anderson, Carei Thomas, Chris Bates, JT Bates, Phil Hey, and others.
Walker founded the short-lived jazz club Brilliant Corners in 2003 and was named Best Local Impresario by City Pages in 2003. DownBeat named Brilliant Corners one of the 100 best jazz clubs in the world. In early 2007, Walker created a new late-night at the Dakota Jazz Club, entitled, “Later at the Dakota,” featuring adventurous music from emerging musicians or established musicians in experimental ensembles. Walker moved on from the Dakota later that year.
In 2005, a muscular/neurological condition in his jaw forced Walker to stop playing the saxophone, and after recovering he switched his focus to piano and composition. He is a 2007 Jerome Foundation Travel/Study grant recipient for composition.
Anthony Cox: bass
Cox is a world-class bass player who has toured the world, both as a bandleader and performing with a who’s who of top jazz artists, including Sam Rivers, Dewey Redman, Uri Caine, Geri Allen and others. He has been the top-call bass player in the Twin Cities for nearly three decades, playing on hundreds of studio sessions and performing both with his own bands, his trio and the highly acclaimed Anthony Cox Regional Ensemble, and with dozens of other groups, including Fat Kid Wednesdays.
Kelly Rossum: trumpet
Rossum is gaining a regional reputation as a creative force in modern jazz. His style combines the traditions of swing, bop and free jazz with recent innovations of electronic music. He has appeared on over thirty recordings, as well as numerous studio sessions. He leads his own band, the Kelly Rossum Quartet, which critics often describe as one of the top small ensembles in the Twin Cities. He has four records out as a leader and is currently the Jazz Coordinator at MacPhail Center for Music in downtown Minneapolis.
Chris Thomson: saxophones
Thomson has recorded and performed with many of the Twin Cities finest musicians, including JT and Chris Bates, Jay Epstein, Michael Lewis, Adam Linz, and many others. He has toured with the Glenn Miller Band and performed with Branford and Delfeayo Marsalis. Thomson is a saxophone instructor at the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth. He has received critical acclaim for his debut recording released in 2007, entitled “The Three Elements”, and currently leads his own band, CT & the Coterie. He also directs an experimental music series entitled iQuit at the Rogue Buddha art gallery in NE Minneapolis.
Kevin Washington: drums
Thirty-one-year-old drummer Kevin Washington launched his musical career in his native Detroit at age five, performing at the Detroit Jazz Festival, his first of many festival appearances in Detroit, Chicago, Alabama and Connecticut. He moved to Minneapolis when he was thirteen, and later studied at the New School for Social Research in New York, where he also taught at the Harlem School for the Arts. Back in the Twin Cities, Kevin has been one of the area’s busiest drummers, performing primarily with Moveable Feast, the Doug Little Quartet, Seven Steps to Havana, Anthony Cox, and the Andres Prado Quartet. Kevin is also a devoted educator, teaching through the Twin Cities Jazz Workshop. In addition to his local gigs, Kevin has performed with Reggie Workman, Rodney Whitaker, Roscoe Mitchell, Antonio Hart, Chico Freeman, James Carter, Roy Brooks, the David Murray Big Band, Craig Taborn, and others.
Scott Fultz: saxophones
Fultz is a multi-talented saxophonist and software engineer who is revered as a superb technician and highly lyrical player. He has performed with Bill Carrothers, Anthony Cox, Bruce Henry, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and the Cedar Avenue Big Band, among others.
Jeff Brueske: bass
Brueske is an accomplished bassist equally comfortable in the jazz and classical worlds, having performed for many years on the classical guitar before transitioning to the upright bass. He is a top-call session bassist and in-demand teacher who has performed on countless recordings released both locally and nationally.