Josh Walsh

Jazz Pianist, Educator, Entrepreneur

I'm Josh Walsh, a professional jazz pianist, teacher, and entrepreneur based in Cleveland, Ohio.

As a child, the jazz piano seed was planted when I found an early interest in boogie-woogie and blues piano. I spent many afternoons in the living room with sunglasses on pretending to be Ray Charles. A yearned for the stride left hand of Fats Waller and Art Tatum.

I assure you, it wasn't much fun to listen to 8-year-old Josh try to rock out like Dr. John, but the journey had begun.

I got more serious about my future at the piano when I went off to college, where I studied classical piano at the University of Toledo and Cleveland State University. Through those studies, I gained a more diverse appreciation for all forms of music.

College did wonders for my playing technique, where I improved fluency in scales, arpeggios, and became comfortable across all the keys and tonalities. The nerd in me really loved learning more about music theory, and I took every course the school would let me.

I studied privately with a number of remarkable piano teachers, most notably at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Margarita Shevchenko, the winner of multiple international piano competitions.

After college, I narrowed my piano study to focus on jazz, which has been my passion ever since. Over years of continued study, both independently and with great private teachers, I've broken down what I've learned into a personal notebook. That notebook has guided me in teaching students of my own for many years and informs most of what I write here on Jazz-Library.

In 2001 I founded The Refinery, an e-commerce consultancy. Being CEO of that company was my primary career until 2021 when I sold my share of the business to focus on Jazz-Library full time.

I hope this resource is helpful to you on your journey in your own playing.