Young Musicians Bring Their Sound to the Canyon May 30
Sam Walker
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
The next concert at Canyon Square will feature the jazz/funk/rock fusion band Sundial and acoustic indie/pop/rock artist Teddy Mailer on May 30 at 6 p.m.
Canyon resident and guitarist Sam Walker, 23, a rising film composer who has scored several independent films, will perform with both acts. The 2025 Wesleyan University graduate, who works part-time at Canyon Grocer, has been building his musical career since returning to the Los Angeles area last year. He looks forward to sharing some of those efforts with the community.
The concert “will be a really fun opportunity to bring people together,” said Walker, who lives with his father, Greg, in Santa Monica Canyon. “It should be a really cool and special community-building event…. It will give a lot of young musicians the chance to play in front of friends and with friends. Hopefully, a good time will be had by all.”
Walker, who grew up in Santa Monica, attended Brentwood School with two of his Sundial bandmates, drummer Ari Winegarten and guitarist Andrew Shimanovsky. During their teen years, Walker and Winegarten regularly played for veterans at the V.A. hospital in Westwood. Walker also kindled his artistic inspiration and nourished his playing skills by hanging out with musicians in the Leimert Park art scene.
The joys of live music are invigorating to him, both as a player and as an audience member, and he notices a similar feeling in his friends and other concertgoers.
“With the influx of A.I., there is a desire for what is live,” Walker said. “There’s a trust that comes with seeing live music. A lot of the music that is most exciting comes from people showing up and being in a space together.”
During his college years, Walker played with numerous bands as he developed his musicianship while also majoring in film and Italian, a language he was inspired to learn because of his mother Michelle Ashford’s Italian roots. His younger brother, Ben, 21, a jazz musician who attends the New England Conservatory of Music, also shared his love of jazz with his brother, and Sam sometimes incorporates jazzy elements into his music.
The band Sundial, which will open the May 30 concert at 6:30 p.m., also features Matt Jasen on bass and Aidan Kluger on keyboards. The act’s style could be described as a cross between the energetic funk band Fishbone and the classic rock group The Allman Brothers, Walker said.
Singer and guitarist Teddy Mailer, who will soon be releasing his deput EP, will follow Sundial at 7:30 p.m., and Walker will accompany him on guitar.
Teddy Mailer
“He’s a fantastic songwriter and guitar player,” Walker said. “His music is clever and sophisticated.”
Last summer, Walker first attended a concert in Canyon Square, and he was impressed not only with the music, but by the event space. He later learned that owner Frank Langen has a goal of bringing more music to the neighborhood, and he hopes that if this concert is a success that it will be the first of a series of shows that could feature his friends and other up-and-coming musicians.
“I’ve had this long musical relationship with everyone in the show,” Walker said. “Everyone is starting their own solo careers, but we also really enjoy playing together. The event is a really fun opportunity to bring people together, and it could be a community building moment centered around music.”
More information about the musicians is available at the following links: Sundial (sundial.theband on Instagram), Teddy Mailer (teddymailer on Instagram), Sam Walker (samwalkermakesmusic.com), Ari Winegarten (Ari Was Here on Apple Music), and Andrew Shimanovsky (Soundcloud).
