John Bishop and his guitar, looking badass.

Listen/Download John Bishop Trio – Wade In the Water

Greetings all

I hope the new week finds you well.

The summer is finally at and end, at least the part of the summer marked by the invasion of the great horde, which tends to recede right around Labor Day, leaving the beaches to us locals for a few precious weeks.

The fam and I had the opportunity to vacate in the latter half of August, during which the wife and I had our own little getaway.

Naturally, that included a little bit of record digging (doesn’t it always) which resulted in a nice fat stack of new additions to my crates, here and over at Iron Leg.

I always enjoy stepping out of my own little vinyl ecosystem and into a new one, where the ebb and flow of wax is different, the stock is new (at least to me) and not quite as picked over as what I’m used to.

There aren’t too many opportunities of that nature where I live, so it’s a gas when I get my mitts on some stuff that I haven’t seen/heard before.

Keep your eyes peeled for the results of said excavations in these pages.

The tune I bring you today is one of those great intersections of a song I love and a particularly hot performance.

‘Wade In the Water’ is a spiritual that goes back well over a century, which is why the writing credits on this version – to Sam Cooke and JW Alexander – are odd, but that is neither here nor there, especially when you consider how often people were slapping their names on public domain compositions in order to pick up a little scratch.

It has long been one of my favorite songs and I’ve gotten into the habit of picking up records with versions of it (like I do with ’Soul Makossa’) wherever I find them.

I had been on the lookout for the record you see before you today – ‘Bishop’s Whirl’ by the John Bishop Trio – for years. While it’s not particularly scarce, it eluded me nonetheless so I was happy to score a copy at a nice price.

John Bishop (born Gregory Ceurvorst) was a Chicago-based guitarist who ended up touring with Ray Charles (thus the Tangerine label) in the late 60s. He also played with Donny Hathaway, Ramsey Lewis and the Staple Singers among others.

His version of ‘Wade In the Water’ – the full album edit is included here, there is a much shorter version on 45 – is smoking, with exceptional work by Bishop on guitar and organist Newell Burton, Jr. Bishop goes into a blazing solo around the three-minute mark that explodes around 4:15.

It is an exceptional bit of hard-charging soul jazz, generating enough heat for the dancers (the 45 has a minor following with the Northern Soul crowd).

I haven’t been able to nail down whether or not this was Bishop’s touring band, or a group put together for the date. Burton was a Sacramento-based organist, and the bassist on the record, Jerry Scheff is a renowned session player who started a long stint touring with Elvis Presley around the time that this album was recorded.

That said, the rest of the album – with the exception of the soulful ‘Way Out Back’ – is fairly straight ahead jazz.

Bishop settled in Chicago, where he played with his wife in the Georgia Frances Orchestra, until his passing in 2011 at the age of 65.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

4 Responses to “John Bishop Trio – Wade In the Water”

1. George Sugarman says:

   July 17, 2014 at 8:12 pm

   I was the owner of The Gilded Cage , 1732 Fulton ave , Sacramento ,Ca when this album was made.
   My father, Carl , and I were close friends with John.

   The band on the album was his regular group since he played our club over several years on different dates. Johnny was one of the most talented guitar player in this genere. The album is mild to what this man could do to a fret and guitar. We booked most of the greats at the Gilded Cage and John
   Bishop was the top of the bunch. Nice guy too.

   I’m the same age as John, now deceased of course. He brings back
   Way too many memories. My father and I last has dinner with John
   In Chicago probably in 1990 or 1995, I can’t remember.
   Newell Burton is no light weight musician either. I’d love to find him and watch him play
   one more time.

   George Sugarnan

2. Larry says:

   July 17, 2014 at 8:14 pm

   Thank you for your memories, Mr Sugarman!

3. George Sugarman says:

   October 24, 2015 at 8:54 pm

   Larry. Whats your last name and were you part of the Gilded cage crowd?

   George

4. Larry says:

   October 24, 2015 at 8:57 pm

   Larry Grogan, and no, I was not part of the Gilded Cage crowd (I wish I’d been old enough). Just a record collector and fan of this album.