Pack Animals, the long-awaited debut album from tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator Jeff Walton, arrives June 27, 2025. Recorded at The Bunker in Brooklyn, the album presents eight original compositions brought vividly to life by a like-minded quartet of collaborators: pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Eli Heath, and drummer Chase Elodia.

A native of Massachusetts and longtime Brooklyn educator, Walton is a late bloomer by design, taking an unconventional path to arrive at this moment. After studying jazz at the University of Michigan under luminaries like Donald Walden and Geri Allen, Walton built a career as a public school teacher and program founder. All the while, Walton was composing his own music, playing gigs around town as a bandleader and with his peers in the New York City music scene. His tireless dedication to the music and constant practice has resulted in Pack Animals: a richly layered artistic statement that reflects not only Walton’s deep roots in the jazz tradition, but also his explorations in choral music, contemporary classical, and collective improvisation. “As I’ve gotten older, my musical interests have fanned out more than focused in. Singing in choirs and composing for other wind instruments have deepened my interest in the sonic possibilities of my horn,” says Walton.

“I’ve come to see music not as a career, but as a long conversation that I am lucky to be a part of. On this album I’m speaking with my influences, teachers, students, and audience—as well as with my past selves. There are pieces on Pack Animals that trace back to my time singing in choirs, studying Italian opera, writing short fiction, and teaching drill beats in middle schools. But most of all, this album reflects the musical community I’ve built—first in Brooklyn, and now in Los Angeles. This is the sound of that shared history.”

The title track “Pack Animals”—part of a three-part suite that also includes “Orange Away” and “Ceilings”—signals Walton’s affinity for group intuition and tight-knit ensemble dialogue. The quartet thrives on subtle interplay and patience, moving fluidly between scored material and spontaneous expression. “I’ve always been most interested in rhythm, tone, and flow. I was first hooked into music by rappers like the Wu-Tang Clan, where flow and rhythm are driving forces. For the Pack Animals suite, I actually started by writing just the rhythms, no pitches, for each instrument,” says Walton.

The opening track “NQT” shows Walton’s fondness for counterpoint and bustling urban textures, while “Blues for George” is a heartfelt nod to jazz lineage. “San Diego” and “Easy Tease” offer brighter, groove-forward landscapes, and “Crunch,” the closing track, is a cathartic culmination that blends vulnerability with resolve.

Though Pack Animals marks Walton’s first release as a leader, his creative evolution has been anything but linear. “In composition, much of my process is tied to learning. With each piece, there’s an element – could be an interval, a texture, an instrument – that I sought to learn something about by composing with it,” says Walton. He adds: “I’ve always wanted to be a rhythm section player, and when our bass player was absent in my class I got to live out that dream of laying it down on a Whitney Houston song or whatever. Thanks to teaching, I can imagine myself at those instruments when I’m composing. Empathy is key to how I approach music, whether I’m arranging for students or composing for my own band.”

Encouraged by a 2012 invitation from Geri Allen to perform at The Stone, Walton soon found himself at the intersection of pedagogy and artistry, founding a music program from the ground up at Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn.

“Teaching pushed me to grow,” says Walton. “I started exploring music outside of jazz, especially choral and classical repertoire. I joined choirs. I wrote for choir. All of it fed my playing and writing. You’ll hear that on this album.”

Through those choral circles, Walton met drummer Chase Elodia, a fellow composer and multifaceted artist who immediately resonated with Walton’s vision. Elodia brought in longtime collaborator Eli Heath, while Walton encountered Santiago Leibson at Barbes in Brooklyn, where they connected over their shared love of expressive and rigorous improvisation.

Now living in Los Angeles, Walton continues to build community and teach while pushing forward in his creative practice. Pack Animals is a major milestone—and an opening statement from an artist with stories to tell and the wisdom to know when, and how, to tell them.

LABEL: 

ALBUM: Pack Animals

RELEASE DATE: June 27, 2025

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