Willie Walters’ first memory of jazz was from 1963 when he was eight years old. “I was being treated to ice cream at Magnolia, there was a three-piece band playing, a beautiful lady in a fish-tailed dress walked by, turned and winked at me. I was so surprised that I dropped my ice cream.” The lady was Eve – she broke a million hearts at Trincas across the road. The music was jazz and it stayed with the boy.
Willie’s final musical destination would also be Trincas. Along the way, he would become part of the cultural history of Calcutta. A beloved bassist with oodles of talent and experience, yet with a willingness to constantly learn, Willie experienced and was part of the musical evolution of the city from the 1960s till the 2020s.
... with Javed Akhtar on the Trincas stage Trincas/Facebook
“My bachelor uncle, Johnnie Dell, who was a shippie (working in the Merchant Navy), would arrive in Calcutta for his annual break.” Uncle John would take 17-year-old Willie and his friends out to restaurants where they listened to all kinds of music. “Every place was different and had its own flavour of music – Moulin Rouge, Bar Barrell, Blue Fox”. Within three months, Uncle Johnnie would have spent all his money, but Willie had found his first love – music.
“When I walked into Trincas in 1973-74, I had never seen a restaurant like that in my life – the décor, the sound, the table settings, the lighting, the service. It was a different world. They had a machine called Elk for sound. Till today, it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard. Benny Rozario and his boys were the sharpest band I’d heard. Down the road, Louis Banks was playing a funkier version of jazz at Blue Fox. There was George Benson on drums, Pam Craine in blue-green wigs and Hollywood gowns, and guitarist Carlton Kitto in shimmering shirts.” When Carlton Kitto moved to The Grand Hotel, Willie Walters followed.
‘His greatest legacy was being instrumental in bringing the jazz movement back to Kolkata’ TT Archives
In 1979 or ’80, the nightclub Polynesia opened at The Grand Hotel and Willie played as part of an ensemble that had two saxophones, an obo, trumpets, guitar, piano and drums. Jenny was on vocals in those days, having moved from Trincas to The Prince’s nightclub and then Polynesia when it opened (both at The Grand Hotel). There would be cabaret with Miss Shefali and spot artists like Sharon Prabhakar and the Greek brothers Freddie & Mike.
In 1989, Willie moved to Delhi to play at the Hyatt Regency with Felix Fernandes. Returning to Calcutta in 1990, he joined Gyan and Jayshree Singh’s band Pop Secret with Amyt Dutta, Kochu, Rila Banerjee, Jeffrey Menezes and Paul D’Gama. From 1995 to 1998, he played with Sonia Sehgal, Andre Sams & Feroze at the Oberoi Grand. And then from 1998 to 2000 with the band Shiva, with whom he moved to Muscat for a stint. Returning to Calcutta in the early 2000s, Willie played jazz with Donald Sehgal at the ITC hotel.
Perhaps his greatest legacy though, was being instrumental in bringing the jazz movement back to Kolkata. In August 2021 he formed the Willie Walter’s Quartet at Trincas. As the only experienced jazz musician, he cobbled together a talented young group of artists to form the nucleus of what is now seen as a jazz revival in the city.
Credited just a day before he died, by Rolling Stone magazine, Willie Walters, who had already found his groove, is now being recognised for his contribution to music in the City of Joy.
This interview was conducted five days before Willie Walters passed on May 1, 2024. Willie is survived by his wife Wendy, and his two children Nicole and Ryan.
