Walter Bishop Jr. - Keeper of My Soul (Remastered) (20200 [Hi-Res]

On his second and last Black Jazz album Keeper of My Soul (1973), Walter Bishop Jr. plays acoustic and electric pianos and organ with a sense of uplift, a quality characterizing the best soul-jazz of the day. Opening number "Soul Village" is a fascinating union of jazz and funk; today, it still sounds fresh in its immediacy.

Here Bishop brings personality to his playing of a plugged-in piano, no easy task, while young saxophonist Ronnie Laws, a few years away from his descent into the disco-fusion abyss, captures in his solo some of the saxophone-generated warmth associated with his mentor, David "Fathead" Newman. The little-remembered vibraphonist Woody Murray handles himself well, and the funk rhythm section cooks.

Walter Bishop Jr., acoustic and electric piano, organ
Gerald Brown, double bass, electric bass
Bahir Hassan, drums
Ronnie Laws, flute, saxophone
Shakur M. Abdullah, percussion, congas, bongos
Woody Murray, vibraphone

Produced by Gene Russell

Digitally remastered