Bernardel Plumerel - ex David Walter

[Eric Swanson]

Lovely instrument!

I met David Walter, briefly, during my single year at Manhattan School of Music, where he was on the double bass faculty. At that time, the MSM bass teachers were Homer Mensch, Orin O'Brien, Lew Norton (all NY Phil) and David Walter (Pittburgh Symphony, NBC Symphony, many others). I believe that all of them except for Lew Norton also taught at Juilliard.

He worked, with total love and infectious joy, to broaden the range of and cultivate enthusiasm for the bass.

Here is a nice bio:

http://www.liben.com/walter3.html

I will never forget him bringing Red Mitchell into MSM for a Master Class. At that time, MSM had very little jazz and certainly no dedicated jazz bass faculty (although several of the faculty had jazz experience). David Walter just did things like that.

He inspired many, many people, as a teacher. He seemed to be a real catalyst.

Notice how Tony Falanga, who continues to do great things, honors David Walter in his bio:

http://www.liben.com/falanga.html

Here is a nice collection of David Walter stuff, that gives some hint of the number of people he influenced:

http://www.liben.com/family3.html