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Jeff Walker

Jeff Walker

After moving from NY to LA in the early 70's, Jeff Walker worked as both a music journalist and publicist. He was an editor at Crawdaddy, Music World and Feature magazines and wrote for Rolling Stone, Penthouse, Phonograph Record Magazine, Billboard, Cashbox, Waxpaper, Circular, FolkScene and Coast Magazine. Jeff interviewed many artists, including Gram Parsons, EmmyLou Harris, Tom Waits, Richie Furay, Michael Nesmith, Loggins & Messina, Rick Wakeman, Bonnie Raitt, Colin Blunstone, David Essex and Nick Lowe as well as contributing the liner notes to the classic soundtrack album for American Graffiti.

In early 1972, Jeff became the first alternative press rep for the venerable public relations firm Rogers, Cowan & Brenner. His first campaigns were for Jim Croce, The Staple Singers and Rick Nelson, during the seminal rocker's Garden Party comeback.

Jeff then joined United Artists Records as Director of West Coast Publicity and worked on the debut albums of ELO, Man, Can and Country Gazette, as well as Don McLean's 'American Pie' and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's landmark album Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

From 1974-1977 Jeff was head of publicity for Island Records' US label where he was at the forefront of introducing Bob Marley and reggae to America. Jeff worked with an amazing roster of artists, including Steve Winwood, Brian Eno, Robert Palmer, The Chieftains, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Sparks, Toots & The Maytals, Michael Nesmith and Richard Thompson.

While at Island, Jeff co-founded Antilles Records as a subsidiary and was its first A&R Director, bringing unique albums from around the world to the revolutionary label. Jeff also produced several albums for Antilles, including two albums of West African music that influenced both Peter Gabriel and David Byrne in their explorations of World Music.

In 1976, Jeff was at a Kingston hotel with Chris Blackwell to film Marley's Smile Jamaica concert and was about to leave for a meeting with Bob when gunmen invaded Marley's complex. Subsequently, Jeff was with Bob for much of the next few harrowing days and produced a (never released) documentary that chronicled the attempted assassination and the triumphant concert that followed.

In recent years, Jeff has been a genre film marketing consultant specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror and comic book-related movies and was named one of the 50 smartest people in Hollywood in Entertainment Weekly's first annual "Smart Issue" (12/7/07) for bringing Hollywood's attention to the vast network of genre fans and the growing importance of the International Comic-con in San Diego in bringing mainstream audiences to these same films.

 

Kim Gottlieb-Walker's photography website

10 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

America: The Whisky, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, April 1972

THE WHISKY is not the ideal club for the debut of an acoustic band; one whose demands on its audience are more cerebral than physical. ...

Jackson Browne: Jackson Browne (Asylum)

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, April 1972

IT HAS TAKEN a long time for a whole album of Jackson Browne's music, actually sung and played by Jackson Browne, to be made and ...

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks: Striking It Rich (Blue Thumb)

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, May 1972

IT IS BOTH a relief and a pleasure that STRIKING IT RICH is as good as it is; as long as I've been familiar with ...

Hawkwind: In Search Of Space

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, May 1972

IT'S BEEN an eternity since I've writhed to a record on a physical level, but I still recall fondly those stoned hours spent engrossed in ...

Redwing, Seatrain: Seatrain, Redwing: The Whisky, Los Angeles, CA

Live Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, September 1972

I WISH there were something really great to say about Redwing; I mean, they've been playing together for a lot of years now, they happen ...

David Ackles: Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: The Overrating of David Ackles

Essay by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, October 1972

A FEW MONTHS ago a sometimes pleasant, sometimes depressing, sometimes intriguing, sometimes boring album by David Ackles, called American Gothic, was released by Elektra Records. ...

Jesse Colin Young: The Troubadour, Los Angeles

Live Review by Jeff Walker, Music World, December 1972

JESSE COLIN Young was a folkie at about the same time we all were. Years of New York City existing, some passionate living in a ...

Townes Van Zandt: The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (Poppy)

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, May 1973

TOWNES VAN ZANDT is so much more than just another singer/songwriter. He's a storyteller; a mood-maker. ...

Tom Waits: Thursday Afternoon, Sober as a Judge

Profile and Interview by Jeff Walker, Music World, June 1973

IT IS SOMETIMES extremely difficult to separate an artist from the trend he's involved in; even if there's only a single element that makes him ...

Can, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream: Techno-Rock: Six Teutons And What Do You Get — A Programmed Sequencer And The Doppler Effect

Overview by Jeff Walker, Waxpaper, 15 September 1978

IN JAPAN, LOCAL bands copy both the look and sound of Western rockers – an imitative art form which thrives while the fans wait for ...

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