Soulgrass

Bill Evans (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 5, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: BHM Productions
• ASIN: B000A3I47I
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,998 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Former Miles Davis sideman Evans steps into an adventurous territory on Soulgrass, blending jazz, funk and bluegrass into a seamless and wholly unique hybrid of quintessentially American styles.

Joining the great saxophonist on this pioneering effort, which was recorded entirely in Nashville, are the legendary Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, Vinnie Colaiuta, Mark Egan, Bruce Hornsby, Clifford Carter, Dave Kikoski, David Charles John Scofield. Other special guests include progressive bluegrass greats Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas and Pat Bergeson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Since no one else has actually reviewed the CD..., December 4, 2006

By 

Ryan Fletcher (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soulgrass (Audio CD)

I bought this CD as an international import before it was released to the US, so it was fairly expensive. I can say that it was easily worth every penny, and the CD has been in my car's CD changer since. I was originally intrigued by the Bela Fleck connection (I own a wide variety of Bela's CDs, both with and without the Flecktones), but found the musicianship on this album to be as outstanding as any Flecktone CD. While not groundbreaking, Evans' sax work is extremely solid, and he's surrounded himself with a wide variery of outstanding musicians. Any track that features Evans, Bela, Vic Wooten and Vinnie Colaiuta, such as "Snapdragon", is a near-automatic favorite, but I wasn't let down by any track on the CD.

Right before the CD originally came out, they did an 8-show run at Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland, CA with Evans, Bela, Vinnie, Jimmy Haslip on bass and Darol Anger on violin. I knew it would be a rare chance to catch Bela at what is probably my favorite venue in the world, so I went to both the first and last shows of the run. The first time, they were clearly still learning material--sheet music was out and the level of exploration was a little bit less than what I was expecting--which is perhaps to be naturally expected given that these five have not played with each other often (at least publicly or in the studio). The second time, the sheet music was generally gone and the show is firmly fixed in my mind as one of the best I have ever seen.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's Bill Evans, and Then There's Bill Evans, October 26, 2006

By 

David Orgel "Music Addict" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soulgrass (Audio CD)

(I haven't listened to this CD, so please disregard my rating.)

Note that there were _two_ Bill Evanses who played with Miles Davis -- in fact, all of the albums in Amazon's "Customers who bought items like this also bought" list are by the _other_ Bill Evans, the great pianist who died in 1980 and who was integrally involved in the creation of Davis's classic 1959 album, Kind of Blue.

This one here is the saxophonist who first joined Miles in the 1980s. Sax Davis plays on four Miles albums -- The Man With The Horn (1981), We Want Miles (1982), Star People (1983), and Decoy (1984). Impressive, but hardly Kind of Blue.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't blame the artist for your ignorance., January 17, 2007

By 

The Only Reviewer That Matters - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soulgrass (Audio CD)

If you're too ignorant to know the difference between Bill Evans the piano player and Bill Evans the sax player, that's YOUR problem, not the artist's. The one-star review that is "for Amazon" illustrates your total lack of understanding of jazz; you should be ashamed for being so stupid. Bill Evans the sax player happens to be an outstanding musician who has been making great music for decades. Bill Evans the piano player was also a great musician. Why disparage the sax player because YOU can't keep the two straight? Seriously, you all come off sounding like dopes.