Education
Biography
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 25, 1965, Doug Walsh began playing drums/percussion in August 1974 at the age of 9. After playing in the school band for 2 years, he began drum/percussion lessons with Ray Fransen, who would remain his drum/percussion teacher for the next 7 years. After graduating from De La Salle High School and playing drums/percussion in their band, Doug was accepted into the world famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee, Doug studied with several teachers including Tommy Campbell, John Ramsey, Skip Hadden, Joe Hunt (all on drumset), Ed Uribe (Latin Percussion), Dean Anderson (Classical Percussion), Ed Saindon (Vibraphone), Victor Mendoza (Vibraphone), and Gary Burton (Vibraphone). He also studied privately with Arthur Press (then Principal Percussionist of The Boston Symphony) in Boston and legendary Percussionist James Blades (O.B.E., London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra) in England and David deGroot (former Percussionist of The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra). Doug also played in several ensembles playing a wide range of music including Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Latin-American and Classical. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music on May 16, 1987.
After graduating from Berklee, Doug returned to New Orleans and also did some traveling to England, California and Japan to perform with various musicians. He has freelanced, performed, and played with many musicians and bands including Patrick Moraz (former keyboardist of The Moody Blues & Yes), John Goodsall (guitarist of premier British fusion band Brand X), Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Austin Sicard, Hank Mackie, Danny Duplantier, Lu Rojas, Bill Huntington, Walter Payton, Harry Morel Big Band, Herb Tassin Big Band, Warren Clark French Quarter Jazz Band, Jerry Christopher Big Easy Jazz Band, Joe Simon Jazz Band, New Orleans Hot Jazz Band, Swingin' Jump Cats, Urban Goucho, Chris Owens, Grace Darling, Woodenhead, Brasilliance, Crescent, Lockdown, Yufuin Genryu Daiko, Museo and many others.
Doug is a member of and is currently performing and recording with the New Orleans based progressive rock group Hobson's Choice and can be heard on the CD "The Dream Palace: Live on Frenchmen Street Vol. II". He has also done studio recordings with various musicians, various bands and his own solo project. Doug has also performed in musicals including Godspell, The Music Man and Sugar.
In addition to playing drums/percussion, Doug also plays guitar bass and keyboards and has written and recorded his own compositions. He has also written and arranged compositions for percussion.
A drum/percussion teacher since 1987, Doug has been very involved in percussion education and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society. Since 2002, he has been a Percussion Audition Adjudicator for the Louisiana Music Educator's Association Bands. He has also given drum/percussion clinics at local music stores, high schools and at Tulane University. In addition to being a drum/percussion instructor at Tulane University since September 1999, Doug is also the Director and Conductor of The Tulane University Percussion Ensemble.
Doug plays Ludwig drums, Paiste cymbals Musser mallet percussion instruments, LP Latin Percussion Instruments and is an endorsee of Pro-Mark drumsticks and mallets.