Jazz sax man Bill Evans made waves in 2005 with the release of his Soulgrass project, merging jazz, funk and R&B grooves with bluegrass and traditional string music. It included such acoustic luminaries as Béla Fleck (who also co-produced), Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan along with Evans and fellow jazz giants John Scofield on guitar, among many others.

Soulgrass was nominated for a Grammy in ‘05. Audio samples can be found on the Bill Evans web site.

Evans is hard at work this summer recording a new project, again featuring this jazz/bluegrass jusion approach. Already announced as contributing in the studio are Sam Bush, Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten along with his touring band of Ryan Cavanaugh (banjo), Christian Howes (fiddle) and Joel Rosenblatt (drums).

This new CD, as yet untitled, is expected to be released in Europe in October 2007, and in the US early in 2008.