Touch

Released in 1999, Touch represents a pivotal moment in Bill Evans' discography where his 'Soulgrass' concept began to fully crystallize. Following his tenure with Miles Davis and his work in the fusion supergroup Elements, Evans used this record to further bridge the gap between contemporary jazz and traditional American roots music. The album features a notable blend of instrumentation, specifically the integration of banjo and acoustic guitar into a high-octane jazz-funk framework. Recorded with a high-fidelity studio sheen, the album showcases Evans' versatility on both tenor and soprano saxophones. Critically, it is often cited as one of his more cohesive thematic statements, successfully merging disparate genres without feeling gimmicky. The track 'A Country Mile' stands as one of his most ambitious compositions, clocking in at over ten minutes and serving as a microcosm for the album's genre-bending philosophy. Despite the Last.fm tags suggesting 'piano,' this is a saxophone-led fusion record by the American saxophonist, not the famous jazz pianist of the same name.