Robert Walter has announced his long out-of-print 1996 debut album '
Spirit of '70' will be reissued May 7 on limited edition 180-gram, purple smoke vinyl and digital formats via RPF Records. Pre-order begins today exclusively on Bandcamp. At the time of its recording, the eight-track LP, that JazzTimes called "can't miss funk," was the second edition in a planned series of solo albums by individual members of The Greyboy Allstars—the band Walter co-founded, and 27 years later continues to play keys, alongside saxophonist Karl Denson, guitarist Elgin Park, bassist Chris Stillwell and drummer Zak Najor. The concept for the solo recordings was to emulate the rotating personnel of the Blue Note and Prestige labels where a core cast of musicians would take turns as a leader, while drawing on the others as sidemen. The idea was further expanded by inviting a guest from the previous generation that had been influential to The Greyboy Allstars' sound to record with them. For 'Spirit Of '70,' legendary saxophonist Gary Bartz joined the line-up.