Bruce C. Walker, a Medina resident and registered Professional Engineer in Ohio, is also a professional keyboardist having studied jazz and classical theory along with engineering, as a college student. Walker developed an interest in ragtime and early jazz piano styles as a teenager and began his musical career as a ragtime pianist for ‘The Ground Round’ and ‘Barnhill’s Victorian Restaurant’ restaurant chains.  

The GROUND ROUND was a new restaurant chain with an ‘old-timey” theme.  They had live ragtime music there, so when Walker and some friends stopped in for dinner, his friends coaxed a waitress into letting him play the piano.  He did, and the next thing he new, the management was offering him a job.  The rest is history.

 He later worked as a supper club pianist and formed the keyboard/vocal duo ‘Nightbreeze’ where he began experimenting with synthesizer programming and background orchestrations.

Walker also played for area churches and provided theme music for THE FISH 95.5 Birthday Club which aired weekday mornings.

Walker left the music scene for several years while he finished his electrical engineering degree, going to college part-time at night while holding a full-time job during the day.

After completing his degree, he began playing keyboard for Ted Beckman’s ‘Let’s Dance’ Orchestra, a 1940s-style, 16-piece big band which performed for local country clubs and the annual Medina County Commissioners’ Charity Ball.

After the orchestra disbanded due to the advancing age of its leader, a few of the members decided to go on with a smaller group called ‘Docside Swing’ (The leader was an optometrist), and Walker was invited to play.

Walker also performed two jazz concerts as part of the Medina County Arts Foundation’s ‘Medina Star’ series.

In the early 2000s, Walker hooked up with Cleveland-Based Motown band, In-Demand, where he played keyboard for 3 years, providing the strings, horns, and orchestrations characteristic of the Motown era.  In-Demand performed aboard the Nautica Queen, Detroit’s Greektown Casino, Lakeside Yachtclub, Willoughby Brewing Co., and numerous country clubs.

By the middle of the decade, Walker wanted his own group, with its own sound, where he could play his own arrangements with some covers and multiple genres, something not always easy to find in other musicians. He wanted a professional sound, not just a ‘garage act’. So, he learned the art of MIDI sequencing, a type of electronic orchestration, where he could be the entire band with his keyboard.  Not being a singer, himself, he teamed up with some very talented singers.

He began to consider revamping his old ‘Nightbreeze’ concept, but upon finding the name taken by another group, decided upon the name ‘Midnight Blue’.

Midnight Blue performed an open ended engagement every Friday for 5 years at Marbella Restaurant on Chagrin with other regular appearances at Becky’s Bistro, the former Pipers III, Danny Boys, Carrie Cerinos, Triv’s of Strongsville, Bianca’s, Royalton Club 360, and many others.

In June 2006, he was the entire band backing a 5-man vocal Motown group for a concert at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now, largely retired, he still performs with VEGAS AFTER DARK, and the M2B2 Big Band, both big band type shows, and occasionally the THE ALLEY KATZ, a female vocal duo.

His most recent accomplishment is an album entitled, ‘OLD-TIME PIANO’, a collection of ragtime and early jazz classics.