of Music
A MATT SILVER | JE STAFF
rtists instinctively eschew clichés, but Mt. Airy’s Lou
Walinsky, 74, knows it’s really true that sometimes
you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

In 1996, the classically trained pianist released his first solo
piano album, “Music from Many Places,” an album true to its
name. His second album, “Piano Arrangements,” was released
last year. It’s another veritable musical smörgåsbord but, more
importantly, a testament to the notion that E Pluribus Unum
(from many, one) has an application beyond dollar bills.

On the latter, Walinsky’s bold, often clever, reworkings of
jazz standards, pop tunes, gospels and spirituals reveal not
just Walinsky’s expansive musical sensibility but fluency and
improvisational aptitude that span the musical spectrum.

See Walinsky live and you’re bound to hear everything from
klezmer and Jewish folk to the immortal tunes of Tin Pan Alley
to ragtime, bebop, bossa nova and soul.

This from a guy who once moved to New York City to
become a classical pianist.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at Temple University,
Walinsky moved to New York City to continue his classical
piano studies at the Dalcroze School of Music, where he was
taught to improvise in the classical mode. But New York’s jazz
scene is a seductive force; its allure has changed the course of
many would-be classical musicians’ careers.

“Getting the taste of the improv, classically, I got interested
in jazz,” Walinsky said.

Walinsky would go on to study with legendary jazz pianists
like Hank Jones and Roland Hanna, but he’s never forsaken his
classical roots.

So, which is he: classical musician or jazzer?
“For me, it’s about expressing the emotional nature, the
soulful essence of the song. That’s what I hear from Keith
Jarrett, Hiromi and Nina Simone. And it’s also what I hear from
Chopin,” he said. “I consider myself part of that tradition.”
Lou Walinsky back at the piano, where he feels most at peace. For years, carpal tunnel made
playing painful.
Courtesy of Lou Walinsky
12 DECEMBER 19, 2019
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



Walinsky fits squarely in that tradition in this sense: like
the great pianists, jazz and classical, he’s a serious musical
anthropologist who knows that the above-mentioned musi-
cal modes share too much common DNA to keep separate.

He’s got great ears and his mind is a vast repository of
repertoire. But you need more than that to play piano; you need
your hands. And in the mid-late ’90s, after the first album,
Walinsky’s hands became a problem.

Based on the record’s positive reception, Walinsky started
playing some concerts, including one relatively high profile
one at The Kennedy Center, as part of its Millennium Stage
series. “I was really rolling along with that pretty nicely there,”
Walinsky said, “but then I got carpal tunnel syndrome in
both hands, and that really threw a wrench into things for
a while.”
This explains why over two decades separate the release of
his first album (1996) and his second (2018).

Carpal tunnel didn’t stop Walinsky from playing
altogether — he taught privately and continued to teach
in Philadelphia’s public schools, where he taught at three
district elementary schools more than 15 years. Like any
jazzer, he still jammed, mostly at the now-defunct jazz
jam at the 23rd St. Cafe, for 25 years a hidden gem of
Philadelphia’s jazz scene.

Still, carpal tunnel took a serious toll on the aspect of his
playing Walinsky valued most.

“I had to cut back totally on concert stuff,” Walinsky said.

“I could still do parties, background stuff with duos and
trios, because it was less demanding.”
But doing what he really loved — concertizing solo,
showcasing his creative arrangements and distinct improvi-
sational style — was, for a time, just not possible. It took too
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1515 The Fairway, Rydal, PA 19046 | 215-814-0420
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