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| Evans, Bill |
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| Born on February 9, 1958 in Clarendon Hills, Illinois, Evans started on piano before switching to tenor sax in high school. He moved to New York in 1978 and continued his music studies at William Patterson College in New Jersey. In late 1980, he was tapped by jazz legend Miles Davis to play a key role in Miles’ celebrated comeback band. Bill became Miles’ right-hand man, recruiting guitarists Mike Stern and John Scofield into the band while also appearing on 1981’s The Man With The Horn, 1982’s We Want Miles, 1983’s Star People and 1984’s Decoy. Evans joined John McLaughlin’s re-formed Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1984, appearing on 1985’s Mahavishnu and 1987’s Adventures in Radioland. He also recorded through the ‘80s with the band Elements (with keyboardist Cliff Carter, bassist Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb) and toured and recorded through the ‘90s with Petite Blonde (an all-star fusion band he formed which was comprised of bassist Victor Bailey, drummer Dennis Chambers, guitarist Chuck Loeb and Evans on tenor and soprano saxes) and with former Police guitarist Andy Summers.
Bill’s solo debut came in 1984 with Living in the Crest of a Wave on Elektra. He followed that in 1985 with Alternative Man on Blue Note. In the early ‘90s, he was one of the first to blend hip-hop and jazz in a musical way on a triumvirate of recordings -- 1993’s Push, 1994’s Live in Europe and 1995’s Escape. He followed those groundbreaking recordings with 1997’s Starfish & The Moon, 1999’s Touch and 2001’s Grammy nominated Soul Insider, which featured a guest appearance by soul-jazz legend Les McCann and topped all sales charts in Germany. Evans followed up that success with 2003’s infectiously funky Big Fun, which featured a cameo spot by country star Willie Nelson on the Buffalo Springfield tune “For What It’s Worth.”
In 2005, BHM Records released the exhilarating Soul Bop Band “Live”, which captured the all-star group fronted by Evans and trumpeter Randy Brecker and featuring drummer Steve Smith, guitarist Hiram Bullock, bassist Victor Bailey and pianist Dave Kikoski in concert. He headed down a new musical path with 2006’s Soulgrass, his daring collaboration with Bela Fleck and Nashville session aces Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan and Jerry Douglas. He continues that unique rock-funk-bluegrass-soul hybrid sound on The Other Side Of Something, which also marks Bill’s debut as a singer. “I feel like I am heading in a new direction that is extremely inspiring to me,” he says. “There is an energy we captured on The Other Side Of Something that is really unique. This kind of music can only grow and grow in time. I never worked harder on a project in my life and it has become very rewarding. It is what I got involved with music for in the first place.” |
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