Their sound has turned jazz fans into classical buffs and classical audiences toward jazz. From Bach to Beethoven to Miles Davis to the Beatles, their "eclecticism without compromise" can be heard not simply piece by piece, but within each composition, blending together flavors of classical, jazz, new age and rock music into a palatable whole. Whatever legitimacy the label "crossover" holds for their sound, in performance, Free Flight always encourages the crossover of audiences' tastes no matter what the setting.

Last season performances included travel to Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Louisiana, and Illinois, performances at the OK Mozart Festival and the NAMM Conference in Anaheim. Recent past engagements have included sell-outs concerts at Interlochen Jazz Festival, Chautauqua, Strings in the Mountain Festival and the Hollywood Bowl. Orchestra performances have included Los Angeles Pops, San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony, Flint Symphony, Nashville Symphony, New Mexico, South Dakota and Kansas City Symphonies, to name a few. Free Flight has also appeared on The Tonight Show and at Lincoln Center.

Leader and flutist Jim Walker founded Free Flight in 1980, as a jazz outlet from his career as principal flutist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Jim says his concept of a flute-led jazz/classical ensemble had a strong appeal to a musician raised on jazz, but who found his profession in world-famous orchestras for 15 years. Walker says Free Flight has always been "performance-oriented, reaching people above and beyond the style of music played." And the proof is they have never had anything close to a "mediocre" reaction to any performance. A critic may have put it best: "If you can sit still while listening to Free Flight, you're either deaf or dead." Their ongoing success comes as much from their personalities as from their technical brilliance, improvisational flair and compositional density-- audiences know, Free Flight is fun!

The clairvoyant interplay between Jim and the other members of the group flows down into the crowd, uplifting and always entertaining. An evening of Free Flight may possess the cool side of jazz, the tranquillity of classical, as well as rock's drive, but make no mistake: Free Flight does not distance itself from its' listeners with these variations, instead, the groups' personalities draw people in.

Free Flight's recordings always hit the top of the charts and remain listening gems for years. Recent projects include recording an album of "Christmas favorites" as well as a Yamaha project. Their newest releases are "Free Flight 2000," and "The Best of Free Flight," on the Warner Brothers Publishing label, CPP Media Records. These CD's capture Free Flight's "live/concert feeling" by combining past favorites with exciting new compositions--a treasury of the best of their work. Two recordings made in the mid '80's for CBS records ("Illumination" and "Slice of Life") might become available in the near future.

Other members of Free Flight include pianist Bryan Pezzone, drummers Mike Packer and Joel Taylor, and bassists Tim Emmons, Reggie Hamilton, Ken Wild.