Former Miles Davis sideman Bill Evans had the strongest showing of his solo career on the funk and rap extravaganza Push a year or two ago. Escape follows a similar format, but has less impact – too much rap and flimsy, static grooving, too few ideas and development. Rattletrap has some life in it, a bop line reminiscent of Eddie Harris’s Freedom Jazz Dance opening up to some committed soloing by Evans and Wallace Roney, and Undercover, Armsakimbo and Aftermath have a dark tension, but mostly Evans’s soprano noodles over slow, inside funk riffs or snakes around Ahmed Best’s raps, and the overall result is lacklustre. The fusion of rap and jazz might have worked once or twice, but it’s evident that the idea is more attractive than the reality.
Discography
Swing Hop; Escape; Reality; The Sunday After; Rattletrap; Flash In Dreamland; Coravilas; Easilee; Undercover; La Di Da; Arms-akimbo; Aftermath; Undercover-Remix (74.12)
Evans (ss, as, ts); Wallace Roney (t); Jim Beard (kyb); Jon Herington, Nick Moroch, Gary Poulson, Lee Ritenour (elg); Victor Bailey, Marcus Miller, Mark Egan, Ron Jenkins (elb); Billy Kilson, Steve Ferrone (d). Various vocal and rap, including Mark Ledford and Ahmed Best. NYC, December 1995 & January 1996.
(Escapade Music ESC 03650-2)
