Walter Bishop Jr.

Walter Bishop Jr was a NYC-born keyboardist who worked with a wide variety of household names in jazz. Someone recommended an album of his to me at some point and I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out I've heard Walter play plenty of times on various Charlie Parker and Miles Davis albums. Other big names you'll find in his credits are Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and a host of others. I do not have a full discography here but we do have quite a few to look into.

The first album I have here was originally released in 1961 which lately is a little out of my wheelhouse. Lending support to Walter on Speak Low, we have Jimmy Garrison on bass and G.T. Hogan on drums. All covers here, but a nice little straight-ahead trio album, nonetheless. This copy is the 2008 reissue which includes 3 additional tunes. Favorites here are "Milestones" and the title track, "Speak Low." 

Next up comes the album titled 1965, named after the year it was recorded, or so I thought. Other versions have sessions in 1962 and 1963 listed. Either way, not released on Prestige until 1970, we have another acoustic, trio album. This time on bass we have Butch Warren and on drums we have Jimmy Cobb. There are some discrepancies regarding personnel, as well. But I'm sticking to what I found initially.

Sixteen mostly brief tunes on this one, and more of the same sound as we heard on Speak Low. Favorites here would be "Theme For A Legend" and "Love For Sale." We also here Walter's first rendition of "Summertime." A recurring tune throughout Walter's catalog.

The following year, in 1971, Bishop released Coral Keys on the Black Jazz Records label. This time, we have Reggie Johnson on bass, Harold Vick on flute, bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxes, Woody Shaw on trumpet, Idris Muhammad (side A) and Allan Schwartzberg (side B) on drums. 

This one is listed as all originals from Bishop, but I haven't dug in to see if that's accurate or not. All good stuff here for the most part. A little more pizazz than we heard on the first two albums, mostly thanks to Shaw and Vick. "Track Down" is a good one here and I also dig "Soul Turn Around." "Freedom Suite" closes this one and is a bit "free" as the title suggests. 

I have a handful of more albums to cover, and in my opinion, they get more interesting as we go. Stay tuned.