Soulive
funk, jazz-funk | formed: 1999 | USA

by Ann Wickstrom
All Music Guide

Brothers Alan and Neal Evans, on drums and Hammond B-3 organ respectively, form two-thirds of the soul/groove trio Soulive. Rounding out the group is Eric Krasno on guitar. The band was formed in the late '90s when all three members were under 25 years old. However, each already had substantial backgrounds in the "jam band" scene. Alan and Neal are former members of Moon Boot Lover and Alan also played with the Greyboy Allstars. Krasno founded the super-funky Lettuce, a wildly popular Boston-based band.

Though originally from Vermont, Soulive is essentially Boston-based as well. The band toured with and/or opened for a number of notables (including John Scofield, Maceo Parker, los Lobos, Derek Trucks, and Robben Ford) before headlining their own shows and releasing their introductory EP Get Down! in 1999. Their debut full-length release, Turn It Out, followed the next year. Doin' Something, featuring John Scofield, was issued in March 2001.

Soulive is all about danceable, organ-driven instrumental groove-jazz. Their success is a result of fusing the soul jazz of the past with a modern hip-hop feel. Krasno's spidery yet very direct guitar lines recall Grant Green. The rhythmic concepts employed date back to those learned from artists such as James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Sly Stone.

Their first release was a self-pressed EP entitled Get Down!. The band's full length debut, Turn It Out (featuring John Scofield) was released on the Velour label in 2000. That release generated such a buzz that they were promptly picked up by Blue Note, who released Doin' Something in early 2001. About a year later, Next was released, followed by Soulive in 2003.