by David Kirby

This band is quite a force, I'm looking forward to heading back out with it," says Robert Walter. He's killing some time on Sunday afternoon, doing the odd cell phoner and getting ready to head to NYC to play Lucille's@B.B.King's, a quick three-day stretch with Mike Clark and Skerik in the Northeastern winter gray. After that, Walter reunites his erstwhile Big Easy funk machine Frequinox for a five-gig run through Colorado, kicking off at the Fox Theatre next Wednesday.

It's better to be busy than slow, even Walter admits.

"I dunno, they just put me on a plane and tell me to go play," he laughs.

But there's more to it than that, especially with the Frequinox thing, which also features 20th Congress guitarist Will Bernard, Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio from Galactic, and alto legend and Headhunter Donald Harrison.

"We first played together two years ago at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, at the Howlin' Wolf," says Walter. "It was just one of those throw-together things that sort of came about at the last minute, but the chemistry was great. We did it again this past Jazz Fest, and then we actually did a few gigs on the West Coast last summer.

"The only thing that's tough about this band is the fact that everyone's busy," he continues. "It just takes so long to be able to put together a few gigs, trying to get time on everyone's schedule."

As we were just about to mention that it'd be nice having this band committed to CD, he says, "We'd like to get in and record, but it's just finding the time. We'll tape the shows off the board on this run, and see how they come out. I'm not sure we'll be able to do much more than that this time out."

We confess to Walter that we always think of him as a piano player first and foremost, but he's taking a B3 with him for the Frequinox gigs, digging deep for that extra greasy and marginally illegal Big Easy funk thing.

"I've been playing a lot more organ the last couple of years, especially using it as a bass instrument," he says. "It's a totally different discipline from piano—completely different instrument, with its own tradition. For me, it's a totally different mindset."

Just as it's a different mindset playing out with different people—something that Walter's been doing for years as his reputation as a top-shelf keyboardist has grown beyond the various band incarnations that have comprised his 20th Congress. After the Frequinox gigs, Walter will reunite for a couple of dates with guitarist Steve Kimock, the follow-up to a Halloween gig they did together this past fall.

We had to try to imagine that. Kimock is a great guitarist but a very possessive, meticulous bandleader. We had trouble imagining Walter, naturally a throw-down jam pianist, messing around in Kimock's harmonic register with the same free-spirit limberness that he brings to his other projects.

"It was interesting, to say the least," Walter says of his gig with Kimock. "He's a very intense guy. I mean, the way he composes his tunes and his phrasing is very exacting. He always knows what he's after. I really wasn't sure what my role would be, whether to try to follow him and mimic what he was doing, or just go out and be myself and play what I play. And that's what I decided to do, and I think it came out pretty well.

"He's also got a great audience to play for," he continues. "I don't know what it is about his fans, but they seem to hang on every single note. They're real respectful of the quiet parts, you know? They're just with him every step of the way."

Not like 20th Congress fans?

Walter laughs.

"I think in a way our shows are a little more like a party," he says. "I like that, too."

Frequinox featuring Robert Walter, Stanton Moore, Robert Mercurio, Will Bernard, and Donald Harrison, with special guest Jeff Coffin, plays at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-3399.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com