Khalif Wailin' Walter - Phoenix Risin' (2024)

The songs are the stars here. Khalif’s songwriting has one foot firmly rooted in the deep Chicago electric blues guitar tradition on song’s like Big Bootyed Woman and the title track Phoenix Risin’. The other foot is rooted in the Texas small combo big band tradition which can clearly be heard on the horn section driven songs Connie-Lee, Baby Please Lie To Me, and Stone Cold Busted.

Khalif’s guitar work is stinging and singing reminiscent of Blues greats Otis Rush and Albert Collins when he digs in on tunes like The Streets and the raunchy Chicago Sound Check. When he needs to take a more supportive role, his chord work is sexy and seductive. Khalif’s temperamental vocals are in one moment suave and crooning on his I’m Your Love Doctor and then in the next moment passionately overpowering which can be heard on I’m Through Cryin’.

‘Phoenix Risin’ is in many ways the CD I’ve always wanted to make. It took a lot of time and work for all of the circumstances to collide and assemble the right people to come together to make it happen the way I heard things in my head,” Khalif says.

Phoenix Risin’ reconnects to some of the music he first loved and listened to as a child. The music is deeply inspired by the past, gently walking the fine line between familiar, while definitely looking to the future with his own voice. To make his vision for this CD a reality, Khalif decided in his own words “to go all in on me,”, taking advantage of modern technology to showcase himself taking on multiple roles. All of the songs were written, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Khalif. As a performer, he sings all vocals, plays guitar and bass, and performs all auxiliary percussion. The songs are the framework for improvised conversations which rely heavily on the skills of the musicians.

You the listener are invited to sit in on in these meeting of the musicians. Khalif is accompanied by many outstanding seasoned Blues veterans on this CD, among others, Pianist Chris Rannenberg, Tenor Sax players Martin “Tinez” van Toor & Tommy Schneller, Paul Jobson on Organ, and New Orleans session drummer Barry Wintergarden.

Timezone Records artist Khalif Wailin’ Walter is a Chicago native who without a doubt belongs to the many generations of Chicago’s Blues Players carrying on the deep tradition while forging new paths forward within it. As a child and being the son of military parents, Khalif moved constantly. Through the American Forces Network, Khalif immersed himself in the big band sounds of Count Basie and Glenn Miller. At 17 he picked up the guitar and he gravitated towards AC/DC and Van Halen. At 20 years old, a chance meeting and half hour guitar lesson from the late Blues icon B.B. King, set Khalif on the path of his purpose and mission; maintaining the history and tradition of Chicago electric Blues. He spent time in the bands of Carl Weathersby, Lonnie Brooks & Lurrie Bell in Chicago among others. Khalif has been pursuing his passion for the Chicago Blues honoring the history and its performers as a musician, author, lecturer, and producer.