Walter Bishop Jr.s 4th Cycle

Keeper Of My Soul Walter Bishop Jr.s 4th Cycle Remastered edition

Keyboardist Walter Bishop, Jr. recorded the second album released by the Black

Jazz label, Coral Keys, a masterpiece of Blue Note-style atmospherics infused with

'70s soul-jazz. But a mere two years later, Bishop, Jr. brought a whole new sound

and a whole new band into the studio for 1973's Keeper of My Soul. Contrary to the

album title, the name of the band was not The 4th Cycle; instead, as the liner notes

put it, the name reflected "Bishop's composition and improvisational techniques

based on the Cycle of 4ths and his various personal musical cycles as performer,

student and teacher." The album also was imbued with a spirituality owed in part to

his studies with yogi Parmahansa Yogananda; little wonder, then, that Keeper of My

Soul was a more ambitious, electric, and "out" record than its predecessor. With

the estimable support of flautist/sax man Hubert Laws, bassist Gerald Brown, and

vibraphonist Woody Murray, Bishop explores Keith Jarrett-like free-form passages

("Those Who Chant"), Latin stylings (Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa"), and offers

one of the most unusual and funky interpretations of "Summertime" you'll ever

hear. All in remastered sound with liner notes by Pat Thomas. First-ever vinyl

reissue of a long-lost classic!