Jeremy Walker is a composer and pianist whose work spans jazz, classical art song, and text‑driven composition. His music has been performed at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Soapbox Gallery in New York, and other venues across the country, and has been featured on American Public Media’s Composer’s Datebook and Classical Minnesota Public Radio. His projects often bring together musicians from different traditions and reflect a long engagement with improvisation, poetry, and ensemble writing.

Walker began his musical life as a saxophonist in Minneapolis, studying jazz with Frank Kimbrough, David Berkman, Anthony Cox, and Ted Nash, and composition with Dr. Ona Pinsonneault while completing a B.A. in Nonfiction Essay at Metropolitan State University. He co-founded the all‑ages jazz club Brilliant Corners in 2003, which received national attention, including recognition from DownBeat as one of the “Top 100 Jazz Clubs Worldwide.” He later founded Jazz is NOW, an educational initiative that launched with a performance by the Wynton Marsalis Quintet and developed the first educational affiliation with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Education Department. He also created and led the Dakota Jazz Club’s Late Night series.

In 2005, an undiagnosed medical condition—later identified as chronic Lyme disease—forced Walker to stop playing saxophone. He shifted to piano and composition, a change that redirected his work toward writing and cross‑genre collaboration. He received a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study grant and created music for TU Dance, Zenon Dance Company, and a range of ensembles. He has taught jazz improvisation and composition as adjunct faculty at Bethel University and has worked with musicians including Anthony Cox, Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Ted Nash, Matt Wilson, Vincent Gardner, Ron Miles, and Carei Thomas. During this period he also produced two albums for pianist David Berkman—Self‑Portrait and David Berkman Plays Music by John Coltrane and Pete Seeger—and wrote the widely read essay series Jazz Is a Bastard for Walker Art Center’s mnartists.org..

Walker’s major compositions include Like the Water, a Schubert Club–commissioned cycle of art songs based on the poetry of Louis Jenkins and written for mezzo‑soprano Clara Osowski; Haunted Blue, also featuring Osowski with settings of Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Minneapolis lyricist Greg Foley; the large‑scale suite 7 Psalms for jazz ensemble and choir; Alma Gentil, commissioned by Consortium Carissimi and performed in Italian and English using the poetry of G.B. Marino (1569–1625); and the jazz oratorio The Rage of Achilles. Following Like the Water, Walker is completing a new song cycle using the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay—continuing his focus on text‑driven vocal writing.His recording of 7 Psalms was named one of the top albums of 2014 by the Star Tribune, and the work later opened American Public Media’s Radio Choir at Orchestra Hall.

In 2014, the Minnesota Orchestra appointed Walker the founding Artistic Director of the Jazz at Orchestra Hall series in the Target Atrium, a role he held until 2019. His work during this period helped broaden the orchestra’s engagement with jazz and improvising artists.

Walker relocated to Asheville, North Carolina in 2025 and used the transition to concentrate on composing, refining his artistic practice, and shaping the next phase of his work. He is currently developing new solo piano work, art song collaborations, and chamber compositions, and is accepting commissions, performance engagements, and residency opportunities.