Walter Bishop Jr. - Coral Keys

[mjzee]

Reissue release date August 28:

The first release on Black Jazz was by pianist and label producer Gene Russell; for the label's second release, Russell chose another piano man of impeccable taste, Walter Bishop, Jr. But while much of Russell's record consisted of songs composed by others, Bishop's record features all originals, most notably 'Soul Turn Around,' a groover that later turned up on Freddie Hubbard's 1969 LP A Soul Experiment. Bishop had helmed several releases before this one, including dates with John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison and Miles Davis drummer Jimmy Cobb among others, so it's not surprising he assembled a heavy hitting line-up for Coral Keys, including Woody Shaw on trumpet, Reggie Jackson on bass, Idris Muhammad on drums, and Harold Vick on flute, tenor, and soprano sax. Think Herbie Hancock's '60s Blue Note recordings gently polished with a soul jazz sheen; this is some tasty stuff that's been hard to find for way too long. Remastered by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, this long-awaited release includes notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, which place both the Black Jazz label and this album in a broader musical and societal context. Produced for reissue by Real Gone Music's own Gordon Anderson and decorated jazz archivist Zev Feldman.

[HutchFan]

I'll be getting this one, for sure.  Woody Shaw?  Harold Vick?  SOLD.

[JSngry]

How deep into this label do they plan on going? There's some gems there, especially the Chester Thompson record.

But that blurb bother me, to note the Hubbard connection for one tune, but not the title tune? And 1969 is later than 1971? And the next motherfucker that starts a sentence with "thing and then doesn't put something after it before making the comparison, or asks me it I want to "come with" like I'm some kind of side order....I will not be responsible for where the puke goes, ok?

Then again, I give up expecting young people to know all that old shit. Everybody too busy being proud of their "re-discoveries".

ok boomer, go get the coco and let us has our dead black musics now, you've already had it, let us own it now (and forever more, probably)

otoh and on a sunnier not,, this is a good record, but don't sleep on Bish's follow-up for the label, Keeper of My Soul. Significantly less "known" sidepeeples, but perhaps more...personal(?) music, perhaps as a result.

[HutchFan]

I don't know Keeper of My Soul.  I'll keep an eye out for it.  But I do know Valley Land (Muse, 1974):

It's good.  But not as good as I wanted it to be -- especially given Billy Hart & Sam Jones.  Sometimes the magic works; sometimes it doesn't.

 

Re: the write-ups -- It's just gobble-de-gook to sell stuff, no?  Like the descriptions on Dusty Groove ...

Edited July 2, 2020 by HutchFan

[JSngry]

Dusty Groove speaks in code, they'll let you know when they know or not. This shit is just bubbly hipster partial-connect excitedly baseball card.

[HutchFan]

36 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Dusty Groove speaks in code, they'll let you know when they know or not. This shit is just bubbly hipster partial-connect excitedly baseball card.

LOL   

[felser]

12 hours ago, JSngry said:

How deep into this label do they plan on going? There's some gems there, especially the Chester Thompson record.

Yes, and I also like those Rudolph Johnson, Calvin Keys, and Henry Franklin albums quite a bit, and there are other interesting albums on the label also.   

12 hours ago, HutchFan said:

I don't know Keeper of My Soul.  I'll keep an eye out for it.  But I do know Valley Land (Muse, 1974):

It's good.  But not as good as I wanted it to be -- especially given Billy Hart & Sam Jones.  Sometimes the magic works; sometimes it doesn't.

Re: the write-ups -- It's just gobble-de-gook to sell stuff, no?  Like the descriptions on Dusty Groove ...

I agree, his Muse albums just weren't the same.   A good bit of magic seems to come from specific label affiliations (Blue Note, Strata-East, Black Jazz, Nimbus West are some of my go-to's).  As per the Dusty Groove writeups, they seem computer-generated with specific stock phrases which occur over and over, but at least those stock phrases give you good clues to the style of the album, if not the quaility.

[JSngry]

I started buying the label in real time, best as I could. They weren't in every record store, if you know what I mean. Then the label went away, but used things would pop up here and there. There was (is?) a blog that eventually got to the entire Black Jazz catalog, that was illuminating, to put it mildly, the "classics" as perceived by whatever general audience awareness exists are but a small portion of the catalog. Then somebody tried to resuscitate the label honorably, but apparently without a lot of reserve capital, with predictable results. Too bad about that, because they did reissue the entire catalog on CD, a small but meaningful 20 records.

The blog is here, and I think I can safely put it here because all links are dead now: https://blackjazzrecordscatalog.blogspot.com/2009/02/black-jazz-records-checklist-compiled.html

The funny thing is, I never really dug Gene Russell...although he did do a DB BFT where he did the "black band or white band" thing...and pretty much aced it. Leonard Feather perpetually talked about the similarly-themed Roy Eldridge BFT where Roy certainly did not ace it, but for some reason (hmmmm...), he never talked about Gene Russell's.

Nevertheless, uh, this:

 

 

[JSngry]

If you dig deep into the "later" Ray Charles catalog, there will be some Rudolph Johnson solos, all of them good. And I think his Black Jazz record is indeed beautiful/ Quite!

[felser]

[JSngry]

Having a gig and keeping a gig means just being ready to go with anything at any time.

 

1 hour ago, felser said:

Yes, there were two!

[Teasing the Korean]

I have, I believe, the complete Black Jazz discography.  This one is a real favorite, and a nice easy listening album for cleaning (which I'm stuck with doing today).

[felser]

2 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I have, I believe, the complete Black Jazz discography.  This one is a real favorite, and a nice easy listening album for cleaning (which I'm stuck with doing today).

I do, too , only label for which that is true, (not counting the 21st century Doug Carn album) and agree.

Edited March 26, 2022 by felser

[DMP]

One thing I never got about the label is that somehow Dick Schory was involved - maybe through another label he owned? (Dick Schory, the guy with those percussion albums in the ‘50’s that you’d use to demonstrate your new stereo.)