Walter Bishop Jr signed to Gene Russell and Dick Schory’s nascent Black Jazz Records in 1971. They had founded the label to promote the talents of young African-American jazz musicians and singers. Their first signing was Doug Carn who had just released his debut album Infant Eyes. The second album the label released in 1971 was Walter Bishop Jr’s Coral Keys.
Coral Keys featured seven of Walter Bishop Jr’s compositions. Some of these he recorded with a quartet, and others with a quintet.
The quartet played on Coral Keys, Waltz for Zweetie, Track Down and Soul Turn Around. The lineup was drummer Idris Muhammad, bassist Reggie Johnson, Walter Bishop Jr on piano and Harold Vick who switches between flute, soprano and tenor saxophone. For the rest of the album the lineup changed. For the recording of Our November, Three Loves and Freedom Suite Alan Shwaetz Benger replaced Idris Muhammad and trumpeter Woody Shaw was added to the band. This was the lineup that competed the recording of Coral Keys.When Coral Keys was released later in 1971, the album wasn’t the commercial success that Walter Bishop Jr or the owners of Black Jazz Records had hoped. It was a disappointment for everyone involved with the album.Record buyers had missed out on a groove-centric album that found Walter Bishop Jr’s band flitting between modal jazz, hard bop and post bop. Just like all good bandleaders, he’s not afraid to let the rest of the band shine. They grasp the opportunity throughout the album and showcase their considerable skills.
This includes reedman Harold Vick on Coral Keys. Around Walter Bishop Jr’s piano he unleashes an exquisitely melodic soprano saxophone solo. This brings back memories of John Coltrane’s classic My Favourite Things.
Elsewhere the band shine and this includes the rhythm section of drummer Idris Muhammad and bassist Reggie Johnson on the first four tracks. Then the addition of trumpeter Artie Shaw on the final three tracks adds a new dimension to the first album to be credited to Walter Bishop Jr.
On Coral Key’s he’s been influenced by his hero Bud Powell as well as Horace Silver’s classic Blue Note Records’ era as well as Les McCann, Ramsey Lewis and sometime Bobby Timmons, Gene Harris and Red Garland. All these influences shine through on Walter Bishop Jr’s Black Jazz Records’ debut Coral Keys.
Sadly, Coral Keys wasn’t a commercial success when it was released. It was the album that got away for Walter Bishop Jr and so did his 1973 album Keeper Of My Soul. The only Black Jazz Records’ releases that enjoyed a degree of success were Doug Carn’s quartet of albums.
It was only much later when critics, cultural commentators and DJs rediscovered and revisited the Black Jazz Records’ back-catalogue that they realised just how important an album Coral Keys was. It was a groundbreaking album where Walter Bishop Jr and his quartet and quintet flit between and fuse musical genres on what’s without doubt one of the finest of his career. Just like the previous Black Jazz Records albums released by Real Gone Music, Walter Bishop Jr’s Coral Keys is a welcome reissue and a reminder of one of one of the greatest American independent jazz labels of the seventies who always strived to released innovative albums that were ahead of the musical curve.
Walter Bishop developed his bebop playing in part by playing in jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse.
He recorded with Milt Jackson and Stan Getz in 1949, then played with Charlie Parker(1951–54), Oscar Pettiford, Kai Winding, and Miles Davis (1951–53). At this time he was also a drug addict, which led to imprisonment and the withdrawal of his New York City Cabaret Card. In 1956, he recorded with Hank Mobley. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, "at some point he became a Muslim and took the name Ibrahim ibn Ismail, but he did not use this publicly." In the early 1960s he also led his own trio with Jimmy Garrison and G. T. Hogan.