SOULIVE — Get Down! (review)

SOULIVE — Get Down! album cover Album · 1999 · Soul Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
darkshade
"Get Down!" indeed. This EP is great. Some of the best soul-jazz and funk-jazz you'll find. Excellent guitar work from Eric Krasno, great drums from Alan Evans, and solid organ from brother Neal Evans, who also plays the bass parts on the organ; this band has no bassist. What's especially outstanding about this album, is this basically an album that documents the first time the 3 of these guys playing together. It sounds like they've been playing together for years. The album (well it's an EP, but it's long enough to be an album) is the reason these guys formed Soulive, one of the most successful jazz bands in the 2000s.

This music is like if Pat Martino fused with John Scofield, and played with Jimmy Smith, but an element of funk is also here, and the band would further the funky sound on future albums. Here, the band had never played with each other, so the focus is on head>improv>head for the most part, with funky grooves and slick melody lines.

A couple of these songs can be found on their proper debut album "Turn It Out", but here they are in a more raw form, with different execution. This was my first Soulive album, and not a bad place to start, this way you can see the progression from here until their third album, before they started introducing vocals and hip-hop to their sound. A great soul-jazz album was heavy doses of funk.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Port’Inglês World Fusion
CARMEN SOUZA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Green Puma / Tropical Dandy Jazz Related Rock
THE LINK QUARTET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Vinny Golia Quintet : Can You Outrun Them? 21st Century Modern
VINNY GOLIA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Bow Code Fusion
SAMPO HIUKKANEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anthem For No Man’s Land Jazz Related Improv/Composition
ANDREAS SCHAERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Badju Mandadu
CARMEN SOUZA
js· 91 minutes ago
Lizards in the Reeds
TAMANDUA
js· 103 minutes ago
Paper Plane Pilot
MIKE DE SOUZA
js· 14 hours ago
Green Puma
THE LINK QUARTET
js· 15 hours ago
Heavy Cream
SAMPO HIUKKANEN
js· 17 hours ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us