Walter Bishop Jr. – Bish At The Bank: Live In Baltimore - Deluxe Edition - 1960 RSD Jazz - Ltd. Numbered Vinyl - Audiophile - 180 Grm 2LP + Booklet

 

''With Bishop in top form and given ample opportunity to stretch out with his partners on eight lengthy cuts, the album fills a major gap in Bishop's recorded legacy, and the caliber of musicianship is quite strong throughout. The Left Bank Jazz Society was the lifeblood of the Baltimore jazz scene, sponsoring concerts beginning in 1964, with particular interest generated by Sunday shows which essentially became community-building events, in which patrons would bring food and beverages for themselves and the musicians, who were especially grateful for paid gigs on what typically was a slack day of the week for live jazz. If the audible conviviality of side one, recorded at the Madison Club in 1966, is any indication, it is hard to imagine any musician would pass up a chance to play before such a crowd. From the up-tempo burner "My Secret Love" onward, the band is clearly feeding off the audience's energy, and it is especially noticeable on the hard bop-flavored "Blues," where Vick's rootsy delivery catalyzes plenty of shouts and hollers for its twelve-minute duration.

 

 "Days of Wine and Roses," for instance, is a fifteen-minute excursion which allows Bishop and Vick room to develop their ideas at length. Vick is another under-recorded figure who honed his chops with organ-based combos such as those of Jack McDuff and Richard "Groove" Holmes, and he represents a bridge of sorts here between a bebop vocabulary (with which he is clearly fluent) and the soul jazz that would evolve later when he recorded with Bishop on Coral Keys. His garrulous solo on "Days" rides the firm groove established by McIntosh and Berk, and Bishop takes it from there, teasing out phrases which unfold at a leisurely pace and with a strong bluesy temperament, before Vick comes back in with some feisty jabs and a few overblown licks to take the piece to its conclusion. Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights" concludes the set, and here Vick switches from tenor sax to flute, with somewhat mixed results, although Bishop's fluid lines and propulsive chords are enough to set things right. A nod to Bishop's days with Art Blakey even emerges with a quote of "Moanin.'" (AlllAboutJazz)