Robert Walter

by Ann WickstromInstrumental jazz-funk is the name of Robert Walter's game. The top-notch organ/piano player was a founding member of the Greyboy Allstars, with whom he played for five years and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. He has also played and recorded with jazz and funk icons Fred Wesley, Melvin Sparks, Andy Bey, and Reuben Wilson, and he contributed to the soundtrack of the 1998 film Zero Effect. In 1996, Walter released a solo album featuring sax great Gary Bartz called Spirit of '70. Two years later he formed Robert Walter's 20th Congress in San Diego. The band also includes Cochemea Gastelum on alto sax and flute, Chris Stillwell on bass, George Sluppick on drums and percussion, and Chuck Padra on congas, bongos, and percussion. The band tours the U.S. and Canada steadily, playing originals (including some of the songs Walter wrote for the Greyboy Allstars) as well as material from Grant Green, Reuben Wilson, and others. An EP, Health and Fitness, preceded the band's July 2000 full-length release Money Shot on Fog City Records.