Bob Walker, Jr. (guitar) earned his BM in Music Education at Berklee College of Music. He has also gone through training to teach the AP Music Theory Course through Manhattan College in New York and has attended the Jazz Band Director Academy through the Essentially Ellington program. He has been teaching privately for 19 years and in the public schools for 5 years. Performance experience includes playing in theatre bands, both in house and touring. He also formed, recorded and toured with the rock band, Skylark,. Bob has also had the opportunity to share his jazz talents with big bands as well as combos. Currently he has been working as a freelance guitarist for various live and recording performances. The latest project is with his newly formed group, Bob Jr and the Martini Gardeners. Bob also currently holds the offices of President for Local 349 of the American Federation of Musicians and New Hampshire Vice President of the New England Conference of the AFM.
The Martini Gardners can best be described as a pick-up band that was meant to be. Bob met George Reagan while performing in the pit band for a musical and they had a few discussions of playing, recording and general thoughts on life. When it came time to record, George was the first contact made. Zach Smith came along shortly after the discussion with George. In the difficult search for a good bassist in NH, an ad was placed at UNH and Zach answered the call. The first practice session took place and it seemed like the three have played together before. Through these first few sessions, the songs began to change shape and mature. It was during these inspirations that Bob wanted to add the female vocals as he has had in past projects. Another ad was placed and after some interesting sounds and conversations, and almost giving up on the idea, Emily Caporello answered the call. Emily's experience in acapella singing and arranging and voice added yet another unexpected dimension to the songs. This is how the band came to be.
One never knows when or where inspiration may hit and just where it will take you. In this case, an edict from the City of Dover, NH will live forever. Arriving to practice, Bob pulled up to George's house and noticed he had what looked to be a martini glass in one hand while holding hedge trimmers in the other. It was later confirmed that it was a full martini glass in that one hand. Sometimes someone can lead you over your edge and we all have that one thing we use just to settle our nerves a bit and move on in life. George, being the classy guy he is does not settle for just a beer to do the yard work as the average person may, but sets his standards a bit higher. After contemplating this as one of the funniest things Bob has witnessed, Martini Gardeners just seemed like a great name for the band. So, to all City governments everywhere, just be careful of where those edicts go, for everyone else we would like to say garden responsibly.