Soul-blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker is nothing if not eclectic—by the time he was 30, he’d already staked out more musical territory than most acts do in a lifetime. Versatile enough to jam with Hendrix AND the Dead, and serious enough to take a ten-year gospel detour when that proved unfulfilling, Joe’s been almost everywhere.

Pasa Tiempo (rough translation: “passing the time”) is an attempt to cover a few spots he’s missed on the musical map. Walker has assembled the jazziest band of his career here, including Art Blakey vet Wallace Roney on trumpet and Hugh Masekela percussionist Leon Ndugu Chancler, and he leads them through a wildly diverse selection of jazz, blues, and soul classics and obscurities.

Very few guitarists and/or vocalists could tie this all together, but Walker loves to wander, and somehow he makes it all compelling, opening with a gospel/afro-beat take on Van Morrison’s highly stylized “Sweet Thing” and never letting up from there.

His taste in covers is uniformly excellent, as well, ranging from Otis Redding’s pleading “Direct Me” to John Hiatt’s comforting “Love Like Blood” to Boz Scaggs’ Stax-like “I’ve Got Your Love.” The guitarist even throws in a quietly menacing instrumental duel with B-3 man Barry Goldberg on Elmore James’ “It Hurts Me Too” and a light, airy, and wordless take on the Dovells’ “You Can’t Sit Down.”

Most intriguingly, Walker’s three extensive new originals are straight jazz affairs, from the samba of “Barcelona” and the cocktail glow of “You Get What You Give” (both featuring Ernie Watts on sax) to the gentle vamp of the title track.

A big gamble that pays off in spades, Walker proves with Pasa Tiempo that his guitar and voice recognize no boundaries. Just passing time? Hardly.