Walter Bishop, Jr.'s 4th Cycle - Keeper Of My Soul [Japanese Remastered Edition] (1973/2013)

Digitally remastered edition of this 1973 album from the Bop/Jazz pianist. On Keeper of My Soul, Bishop 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.