Minneapolis-St. Paul Jazz Heroes
Rev. Carl Walker and Grant West share a lifelong commitment to music education, community empowerment, and cultural preservation that has profoundly shaped the Twin Cities jazz scene. Their Walker West Music Academy in Saint Paul, one of the nation’s first African American-founded community music schools, has provided accessible, culturally-rooted instruction in jazz, gospel, and classical music to thousands of students since 1988. Their longstanding commitment has launched the careers of generations of local and national jazz musicians and music educators, exemplifying the lasting legacy of these 2026 Jazz Heroes.
Rev. Walker studied music from childhood and later at McKendee College in Lebanon, IL. After moving to the Twin Cities, he graduated from North Central Bible College and further studied at MacPhail Center for Music. As longtime music director at Saint Paul’s Mount Olivet Missionary Baptist Church he’s built several choirs and trained many singers and musicians.
A Wyoming native who studied piano as a child, West moved to Saint Paul where he became a respected community leader through his work with the Urban League. A children’s music teacher in Black community churches, he had the opportunity to play piano with Sammy Davis, Jr. In 1987, Walker and West met while leading separate choirs at an area church function. Both taught piano lessons from their homes, and soon decided to combine businesses, launching their program with one rented piano in a second-floor duplex.
Over the years the program grew in size and scope. Opening in 2025, the latest facility features teaching modern studios, classrooms, and rehearsal and concert spaces. Today Walker West boasts a thriving string program as well as lessons in 14 instruments and voice, an early childhood program, and the Amazing Grace Chorus, a dementia-friendly program for seniors. Instructors are among the most accomplished Twin Cities artists, including some first exposed to jazz as Walker West students.
Today, WWMA serves approximately 5,600 students annually. West and Walker have ensured that the school remains accessible to the Twin Cities community, noting that “talent should not be limited by finances.” If families struggle to pay for lessons, parents can volunteer at the school. WWMA also provides over $100,000 in tuition scholarships each year.
—Andrea Canter, Patty Peterson, and Steve Kenny — 2017, ’18 and ’19 Twin Cities Jazz Heroes
