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Walter Roland Dickerson was born on April 16, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Morgan State University in 1953 and after two years in the Army he settled in California. There the vibraphonist started to gain attention by leading a group with pianist Andrew Hill and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

During the Sixties in New York City was where he gained some further attention. He recorded four albums for Prestige Records and in 1962 Down Beat named him the Best New Artist.

Dickerson recorded his debut album This Is Walt Dickerson in 1961 on the New Jazz label and would go on to record six more before the end of the decade for New Jazz, Audio Fidelity and MGM record labels. He worked with Elmo Hope, arranging his 1963 album Sounds From Rikers Island.

From 1965 to 1975 he took a break from jazz, but later he worked again with Andrew Hill and Sun Ra. Beginning in 1975 after his return to performing he recorded Tell Us Only The Beautiful Things and Walt Dickerson 1976 on the Whynot label. He then began recording ten albums for the Danish Steeplechase label and one for Soul Note in 1978.

Vibraphonist Walt Dickerson, who was most notably associated with the post-bop idiom, passed away on May 15, 2008 from a cardiac arrest in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

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