 Walter Lang was born May
13th, 1961 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, a small city some 50
kilometers from Stuttgart, Germany. He grew up with the sound of
accordion and piano being played around the house by both his father and
grandfather.He studied piano and composition at the Berklee School of Music in Boston; finished his studies at the Amsterdam School of Arts. In 1988 Walter had the fortune of becoming a founding member of the Rick Hollander Quartet, a group which has enjoyed countless tours of Europe, Japan and America. The group’s 5 CD’s all feature Walter’s trademark piano playing. The Quartet won the 1st prize at the „Europ‘ Jazz Contest“ in Hoeilaart, Belgium in 1990. Since 1999 he is leading his own Walter Lang Trio with Nic Thys on bass and Rick Hollander on drums. They released very succesful Cd's for the japanese M&I label such as „Walter Lang Trio plays Charles Chaplin“ (1999), „Across The Universe“ (2002), „Softly as in a morning Sunrise“ (2005) „The Sound Of A Rainbow"(2005), that received the "Best Sounding CD Award" by the japanese "Swing Journal", as well as the recent CD "Romantische Straße"(2007) that got the Gold Disc Award by "Swing Journal". In 2008 he regrouped the Walter Lang Trio: Thomas Markusson from Göteborg/Sweden is playing bass and Sebastian Merk from Berlin/Germany is the new drummer. in 2009 their first CD "Eurasia" came out on the M&I Label. Along with drummer Gerwin Eisenhauer and bassist Sven Faller he founded TRIO ELF in 2005. Their first CD "ELF" for ENJA RECORDS was a big success and the second CD "746" was released in 2008. His recent groups are, besides Trio ELF and the Walter Lang Trio, his duo "Yuujou" with the japanese taiko drummer Takuya Taneguchi, the Walter Lang Quintett, Daktarimba as well as his duo with master saxofonist Lee Konitz. Walter Lang has also played with James Moody, Chico Freeman, Don Menza, Roy Hargrove, Jenny Evans, Dusko Goykovich, Lisa Wahlandt and many others. |
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