Here Walter
plays with the rhythm section of Johnny Vidacovich and James Singleton,
and space they leave for his Hammond B3 and piano presents him in a
very different light. Moore’s funk is muscular and riff-oriented; here
the playing is more dynamic and fun. You can hear someone enjoying all
the cool sounds a B3 can make.
Of course, the contrast is in ways unfair. Moore’s trio has its own direction and personnel, and it’s natural that someone as musically restless as Walter would have other ideas to explore and other musical avenues opened when accompanied by Singleton and Vidacovich. “Parts and Holes” shows his skill on the Fender Rhodes, and he puts on his New Orleans piano professor hat for a parade version of the Melodians’ “Rivers of Babylon.” He periodically uses both the piano and B3 in the same track, whether overdubbing one on “Scores of Spores” or starting the fleet, dashing “Box of Glass” with a tumble of notes on the piano while Vidacovich plays the drum rims, then shifting into the technical, two-and-a-half minute organ solo that makes up the track.
The album is Walter’s best recorded showcase in New Orleans to date, finding enough common ground with the city’s keyboard traditions to make sense here, but distinctive enough to assert his own personality.-
By Alex Rawls courtesy of Offbeat Magazine www.offbeat.com
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