An Evening with Soulive

This program contains an hour of Funk, Jam and Soul Music by the group Soulive with special guest vocalist Toussant. This performance was recorded live in August of 2006 at the Telluride Jazz Celebration held annually in Telluride Colorado's beautiful Town Park. The Telluride Celebration is an annual event showcasing great Jazz along with other types of music for three days nestled in the high Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado.

March of 2009 marks Soulive’s 10th Anniversary – ten years since Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and his brother Neal Evans got together for the first time at a home studio just outside of Woodstock, NY and recorded Get Down.Over the past 10 years, Soulive has covered a lot of ground – musically and literally.

The band has traveled to nearly every corner of the world, touring Ghana, Russia, nearly all of Europe, Brazil, and Japan (nine times!). They’ve been across America on dozens of tours. New Orleans Jazz Fest has become a home away from home. And in their actual home, New York City, they are closing in on their 100th show. Not many bands can say they’ve recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. Nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour. The musical relationships the band has developed, from the aforementioned artists to Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, speak volumes about both how versatile these talented musicians are. Jazz, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk, R & B, Blues – musically, there is not much the band hasn’t done.

In developing their own history, Soulive has been in the company of legends both new and old. In 2000, Bruce Lundvall signed the band to Blue Note Records and Soulive became part of recorded music’s greatest jazz legacy. Soulive joined the ranks of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter and Grant Green and was part of the niche label’s rise as Norah Jones captivated the nation.  Six years later, Soulive would be the first band signed to the new incarnation of Stax Records, joining the incredible soul tradition built by the likes of Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding.

Soulive has always been creatively restless, never content to ride a sound (or a look) for too long. The band has led their fans through many incarnations:  both male & female singers, a horn section, and repeated returns to the trio format. The band and the fans have endured, grown and morphed. Consistent through all of the different line-ups, though, was the groove – Neal’s club-shaking left hand pounding out bass lines, Alan’s ride propelling the music forward, and Eric’s solos soaring on top. Every show has that moment where Neal leans on the organ up high and the whole band breaks free. Every Soulive fan knows that moment. That is something that has never changed.

While ten years is something to celebrate, Soulive is not a band to look backward. The band is more concentrated on the future than concerned with revisiting its past. Unencumbered by record contract and fully equipped with a state-of-the-art recording studio, Soulive is embracing the new music business model by launching their own record label, “Royal Family Records.”  With a focus on digital distribution, the label will be an outlet for all Soulive recordings as well as numerous Soulive affiliated projects such as Lettuce, Eric’s project “Chapter 2”, Alan’s and Neal’s solo records and Break Science featuring Adam Detch. The label will also sign emerging talent and develop them on tour with Soulive. The first artist to join up is soul singer Nigel Hall, who will release an EP this spring and join the band on the road.

Soulive will launch their label with the release of their new studio effort Up Here. The LP was recorded in Alan’s new studio in South Deerfield, Mass in the fall of 2008. “This is the Soulive album I've always wanted to record – it’s what I've been hearing in my head for years,” says Alan, who also tracked and mixed the record. “It's like when people say ‘if I could go back in time knowing what I know now.’  Well, that's what we did with Up Here.  The session had the vibe and energy of Get Down but with all of our experiences

Up Here isn’t the only thing Soulive has on tap for 2009. The band has a double-live LP recorded in Japan last summer that will be released as four separate EPs throughout the year. There is also a full length live DVD from the same sessions. Soulive also hopes to have another studio record ready for public consumption by the fall. 

This program contains an hour of Funk, Jam and Soul Music by the group Soulive with special guest vocalist Toussant. This performance was recorded live in August of 2006 at the Telluride Jazz Celebration held annually in Telluride Colorado's beautiful Town Park. The Telluride Celebration is an annual event showcasing great Jazz along with other types of music for three days nestled in the high Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado.

March of 2009 marks Soulive’s 10th Anniversary – ten years since Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and his brother Neal Evans got together for the first time at a home studio just outside of Woodstock, NY and recorded Get Down.Over the past 10 years, Soulive has covered a lot of ground – musically and literally.

The band has traveled to nearly every corner of the world, touring Ghana, Russia, nearly all of Europe, Brazil, and Japan (nine times!). They’ve been across America on dozens of tours. New Orleans Jazz Fest has become a home away from home. And in their actual home, New York City, they are closing in on their 100th show. Not many bands can say they’ve recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. Nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour. The musical relationships the band has developed, from the aforementioned artists to Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, speak volumes about both how versatile these talented musicians are. Jazz, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk, R & B, Blues – musically, there is not much the band hasn’t done.

In developing their own history, Soulive has been in the company of legends both new and old. In 2000, Bruce Lundvall signed the band to Blue Note Records and Soulive became part of recorded music’s greatest jazz legacy. Soulive joined the ranks of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter and Grant Green and was part of the niche label’s rise as Norah Jones captivated the nation.  Six years later, Soulive would be the first band signed to the new incarnation of Stax Records, joining the incredible soul tradition built by the likes of Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding.

Soulive has always been creatively restless, never content to ride a sound (or a look) for too long. The band has led their fans through many incarnations:  both male & female singers, a horn section, and repeated returns to the trio format. The band and the fans have endured, grown and morphed. Consistent through all of the different line-ups, though, was the groove – Neal’s club-shaking left hand pounding out bass lines, Alan’s ride propelling the music forward, and Eric’s solos soaring on top. Every show has that moment where Neal leans on the organ up high and the whole band breaks free. Every Soulive fan knows that moment. That is something that has never changed.

While ten years is something to celebrate, Soulive is not a band to look backward. The band is more concentrated on the future than concerned with revisiting its past. Unencumbered by record contract and fully equipped with a state-of-the-art recording studio, Soulive is embracing the new music business model by launching their own record label, “Royal Family Records.”  With a focus on digital distribution, the label will be an outlet for all Soulive recordings as well as numerous Soulive affiliated projects such as Lettuce, Eric’s project “Chapter 2”, Alan’s and Neal’s solo records and Break Science featuring Adam Detch. The label will also sign emerging talent and develop them on tour with Soulive. The first artist to join up is soul singer Nigel Hall, who will release an EP this spring and join the band on the road.

Soulive will launch their label with the release of their new studio effort Up Here. The LP was recorded in Alan’s new studio in South Deerfield, Mass in the fall of 2008. “This is the Soulive album I've always wanted to record – it’s what I've been hearing in my head for years,” says Alan, who also tracked and mixed the record. “It's like when people say ‘if I could go back in time knowing what I know now.’  Well, that's what we did with Up Here.  The session had the vibe and energy of Get Down but with all of our experiences

Up Here isn’t the only thing Soulive has on tap for 2009. The band has a double-live LP recorded in Japan last summer that will be released as four separate EPs throughout the year. There is also a full length live DVD from the same sessions. Soulive also hopes to have another studio record ready for public consumption by the fall.