Robert Walter (musician)
Encyclopedia
Robert Walter is a keyboard player specializing in instrumental soul jazz
on the Hammond B3 organ. He is a founding member
of The Greyboy Allstars
, and has since led his own band Robert Walter's 20th Congress.
, he toured throughout North America and Europe with the group for five years. Along the way, he contributed to the soundtrack of the major motion picture Zero Effect
and has performed and recorded with such jazz and funk heavyweights as Fred Wesley
, Gary Bartz
, Melvin Sparks
, Andy Bey
, Reuben Wilson
, Harvey Mason
, Red Holloway
, Chuck Rainey
, Phil Upchurch
, Mike Clark, Johnny Vidacovich
and Steve Kimock
.
At the age of 30, Robert left the Greyboy Allstars and formed a new band, Robert Walter's 20th Congress. The group featured Robert on electric piano and Hammond B3 organ, Cochemea "Cheme" Gastelum on alto sax, electric sax and flute, Chris Stillwell
on bass and Stanton Moore
on drums. The 20th Congress released their debut full-length recording Money Shot on San Francisco's Fog City Records
in 2000.
He has also recorded a semi-tongue-in-cheek Christmas record, In A Holiday Groove for Fog City Records
.
Walter moved from his native San Diego to New Orleans in 2003, and subsequently reunited with producer Dan Prothero
to record Super Heavy Organ
with local legends Johnny Vidacovich
, James Singleton
, Tim Green
, and Stanton Moore
.
Walter can be seen in the 2007 Columbia Pictures release "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story", for which he helped write one of the soundtrack's more audacious numbers, "(Mama) You Got To Love Your Negro Man". In a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' uncredited cameo, he briefly appears as the keyboard player in the house band for Dewey's 1970s variety show, "The Dewey Cox Show".
Soul jazz
Soul jazz is a development of jazz incorporating strong influences from blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often an organ trio featuring a Hammond organ.- Overview :Soul jazz is often associated with hard bop. Mark C...
on the Hammond B3 organ. He is a founding member
of The Greyboy Allstars
The Greyboy Allstars
The Greyboy Allstars are a San Diego funk and jazz group created in the early 1990s. The group began as collaboration of DJ Greyboy with Karl Denson during weekly shows at the Green Circle Bar in San Diego and on the DJ Greyboy albums Home Cooking and Freestylin’...
, and has since led his own band Robert Walter's 20th Congress.
Biography
Robert Walter has built a reputation as one of America's heaviest jazz-funk keyboardists. As a founding member of The Greyboy AllstarsThe Greyboy Allstars
The Greyboy Allstars are a San Diego funk and jazz group created in the early 1990s. The group began as collaboration of DJ Greyboy with Karl Denson during weekly shows at the Green Circle Bar in San Diego and on the DJ Greyboy albums Home Cooking and Freestylin’...
, he toured throughout North America and Europe with the group for five years. Along the way, he contributed to the soundtrack of the major motion picture Zero Effect
Zero Effect
Zero Effect is a 1998 mystery film written and directed by Jake Kasdan . It stars Bill Pullman as "the world's most private detective" Daryl Zero and Ben Stiller as his assistant Steve Arlo....
and has performed and recorded with such jazz and funk heavyweights as Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
, Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School...
, Melvin Sparks
Melvin Sparks
Melvin Sparks was an American soul jazz, hard bop and jazz blues guitarist. He recorded a number of albums for Prestige Records, later recording for Savant Records...
, Andy Bey
Andy Bey
Andrew W. Bey is a jazz singer and pianist.Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan....
, Reuben Wilson
Reuben Wilson
Reuben Wilson is a jazz organist. He performs soul jazz and acid jazz, and is best known for his title track "Got To Get Your Own"He was born in Mounds, Oklahoma and his family moved to Pasadena when he was 5....
, Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
, Red Holloway
Red Holloway
James W. "Red" Holloway is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old...
, Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey, is an American bass guitar session musician, known for playing with many well-known American musicians and acts, including Donald Byrd, Steely Dan, Quincy Jones, and Aretha Franklin.-Biography:Rainey's youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet...
, Phil Upchurch
Phil Upchurch
Phil Upchurch is an American jazz and R&B guitarist and bassist.Upchurch started his career working with The Kool Gents, The Dells, and The Spaniels before going on to work with Curtis Mayfield, Otis Rush and Jimmy Reed. He then returned to Chicago to play and record with Woody Herman, Stan Getz,...
, Mike Clark, Johnny Vidacovich
Johnny Vidacovich
Johnny Vidacovich is a contemporary jazz drummer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Playing since the early 1970s with the quartet Astral Project , he has become widely renowned as a prominent and sought after New Orleans musician as well as contributing to New Orleans cultural heritage...
and Steve Kimock
Steve Kimock
-External links:** at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at Internet Archive's live music archive*, San Francisco, April 3, 1999*, Unofficial Fan Forum...
.
At the age of 30, Robert left the Greyboy Allstars and formed a new band, Robert Walter's 20th Congress. The group featured Robert on electric piano and Hammond B3 organ, Cochemea "Cheme" Gastelum on alto sax, electric sax and flute, Chris Stillwell
Chris Stillwell
Chris Stillwell is the bassist for the band The Greyboy Allstars. He was born to David and Cheryle Stillwell on June 4, 1966 in Seattle, Washington. The family moved to San Diego when Chris was about 6 months old. He stole his first guitar from his older sister's closet and didn't put it down for...
on bass and Stanton Moore
Stanton Moore
Stanton Moore is a drummer raised in Metairie, Louisiana. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity...
on drums. The 20th Congress released their debut full-length recording Money Shot on San Francisco's Fog City Records
Fog City Records
Fog City Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco.Founded in 1996 by producer/engineer Dan Prothero, the label's first release was the highly successful "Coolin' Off" which launched the career of New Orleans based funk band Galactic...
in 2000.
He has also recorded a semi-tongue-in-cheek Christmas record, In A Holiday Groove for Fog City Records
Fog City Records
Fog City Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco.Founded in 1996 by producer/engineer Dan Prothero, the label's first release was the highly successful "Coolin' Off" which launched the career of New Orleans based funk band Galactic...
.
Walter moved from his native San Diego to New Orleans in 2003, and subsequently reunited with producer Dan Prothero
Dan Prothero
Dan Prothero is a San Francisco-based independent record producer, recording engineer, and record collector. He has been called "the true king of raw" by [ allmusic.com], for his emphasis on live performance, vintage analog recording techniques, and gritty drum tones.He founded Fog City Records in...
to record Super Heavy Organ
Super Heavy Organ
Super Heavy Organ is an album by New Orleans and San Diego keyboardist Robert Walter.- Musicians :* Robert Walter - Hammond organ piano, clavinet, melodica, percussion* Johnny Vidacovich - drums* Stanton Moore - drums* Tim Green - tenor saxophone...
with local legends Johnny Vidacovich
Johnny Vidacovich
Johnny Vidacovich is a contemporary jazz drummer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Playing since the early 1970s with the quartet Astral Project , he has become widely renowned as a prominent and sought after New Orleans musician as well as contributing to New Orleans cultural heritage...
, James Singleton
James Singleton (musician)
James Singleton is an acoustic bassist, composer, and producer with an intimate and extensive affiliation with the New Orleans music scene. He is a member of the long-lived New Orleans-based jazz group Astral Project with Johnny Vidacovich, Tony Dagradi and Steve Masakowski. He has been described...
, Tim Green
Tim Green
Timothy John Green is a former American football player as well as a radio and television personality. He was a linebacker and defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, a commentator for National Public Radio, the former host of the 2005 revival of A Current Affair...
, and Stanton Moore
Stanton Moore
Stanton Moore is a drummer raised in Metairie, Louisiana. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity...
.
Walter can be seen in the 2007 Columbia Pictures release "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story", for which he helped write one of the soundtrack's more audacious numbers, "(Mama) You Got To Love Your Negro Man". In a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' uncredited cameo, he briefly appears as the keyboard player in the house band for Dewey's 1970s variety show, "The Dewey Cox Show".
Discography (as leader)
- Spirit Of '70 - Greyboy Records, 1996 [with Gary Bartz]
- Health And Fitness - 1999 [with the 20th Congress]
- Money Shot - Fog City RecordsFog City RecordsFog City Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco.Founded in 1996 by producer/engineer Dan Prothero, the label's first release was the highly successful "Coolin' Off" which launched the career of New Orleans based funk band Galactic...
, 2000 [with the 20th Congress] - There Goes The Neighborhood - Premonition (Emd), 2001 [Solo]
- Giving Up The Ghost - Magna Carta RecordsMagna Carta RecordsMagna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label has a diverse line-up consisting of musicians from many different genres, but is best known for many of its...
, 2003 [with the 20th Congress] - Super Heavy OrganSuper Heavy OrganSuper Heavy Organ is an album by New Orleans and San Diego keyboardist Robert Walter.- Musicians :* Robert Walter - Hammond organ piano, clavinet, melodica, percussion* Johnny Vidacovich - drums* Stanton Moore - drums* Tim Green - tenor saxophone...
- Magna Carta RecordsMagna Carta RecordsMagna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label has a diverse line-up consisting of musicians from many different genres, but is best known for many of its...
, 2005 [with Super Heavy Organ] - Cure AllCure All (album)Cure All is an album by keyboardist Robert Walter. The recording features James Singleton and Johnny Vidacovich . AllMusic states that Cure All is soul-jazz with "a healthy balance of intellect and funkiness"...
- Palmetto, June 2008
Discography (as a sideman)
- The Clinton Administration - Magna Carta RecordsMagna Carta RecordsMagna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label has a diverse line-up consisting of musicians from many different genres, but is best known for many of its...
, 2004 with The Clinton Administration - IIIIII (Stanton Moore album)III is Stanton Moore's third studio solo album released 2006. As each of Moore's solo albums have had unique character, III features keyboardist Robert Walter and guitarist Will Bernard for a 1970s-like soul funk with a "sense of authenticity" as "artists who live it."It was recorded at...
- Telarc, 2006 with Stanton MooreStanton MooreStanton Moore is a drummer raised in Metairie, Louisiana. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity... - Emphasis! (On Parenthesis) - Telarc, 2008 with Stanton Moore
- Groove Alchemy - Telarc International, 2010 with Stanton MooreStanton MooreStanton Moore is a drummer raised in Metairie, Louisiana. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity...
& Will BernardWill BernardWill Bernard is a guitarist and band leader from the San Francisco Bay Area, now living in Brooklyn, New York. He has led the Will Bernard Band, Will Bernard Trio, Will Bernard 4-tet, and Motherbug....
Discography (with the GreyBoy Allstars)
- West Coast Boogaloo with Fred Wesley - Greyboy Records, 1995
- A Town Called Earth - Greyboy Records, 1997
- GBA Live - Relaxed Records/Ada Records, 1999
- What Happened to Television?, 2007
Discography (with Creedle)
- Half Man Half Pie - Cargo MusicCargo MusicCargo Music Inc. is a record label based in San Diego, California. It distributes records for other labels such as Cherry Red Records, Earth Music, FistPuppet Records, Grilled Cheese, Headhunter Records, Re-Constriction Records, RPM Records and Tackle Box. Notable artists that have been signed to...
/Headhunter RecordsHeadhunter RecordsHeadhunter Records is a record label distributed by Cargo Music, Inc. Headhunter records is based out of San Diego, California. It was launched in 1989.-Other Notable Artists:*Creedle* Slap Of Reality*Inch*Deadbolt*Drive Like Jehu*Fishwife...
, 1992 - Silent Weapons for Quiet WarsSilent Weapons For Quiet WarsSilent Weapons for Quiet Wars is the debut from Wu-Tang affiliate Killarmy. The group consists of six MCs: Killa Sin, Beretta 9, Islord, 9th Prince, P.R. Terrorist , and ShoGun Assasson; and one producer, 4th Disciple, who produced the majority of the album...
- Cargo MusicCargo MusicCargo Music Inc. is a record label based in San Diego, California. It distributes records for other labels such as Cherry Red Records, Earth Music, FistPuppet Records, Grilled Cheese, Headhunter Records, Re-Constriction Records, RPM Records and Tackle Box. Notable artists that have been signed to...
/Headhunter RecordsHeadhunter RecordsHeadhunter Records is a record label distributed by Cargo Music, Inc. Headhunter records is based out of San Diego, California. It was launched in 1989.-Other Notable Artists:*Creedle* Slap Of Reality*Inch*Deadbolt*Drive Like Jehu*Fishwife...
, 1994 - When the Wind BlowsWhen the Wind BlowsWhen the Wind Blows is a 1982 graphic novel, by British artist Raymond Briggs, that shows a nuclear attack on Britain by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, Jim and Hilda Bloggs. The book was later made into an animated film.-Plot:...
- Cargo MusicCargo MusicCargo Music Inc. is a record label based in San Diego, California. It distributes records for other labels such as Cherry Red Records, Earth Music, FistPuppet Records, Grilled Cheese, Headhunter Records, Re-Constriction Records, RPM Records and Tackle Box. Notable artists that have been signed to...
/Headhunter RecordsHeadhunter RecordsHeadhunter Records is a record label distributed by Cargo Music, Inc. Headhunter records is based out of San Diego, California. It was launched in 1989.-Other Notable Artists:*Creedle* Slap Of Reality*Inch*Deadbolt*Drive Like Jehu*Fishwife...
, 1996
External links
- Official Site
- Fog City Records presents: Robert Walter
- [ Allmusic biography]
- Robert Walter's 20th Congress collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive - Interview with Robert Walter on Aural States (Oct 2008)