Bill Evans with Spy Killers project in Manggha Museum, Kraków

The special concerts of Summer Jazz Festival Kraków bring many emotions and gather fans of top quality jazz every year.
The second concert of this cycle took place on 9th July 2019, this time in Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, and we had great pleasure of being graced by the world-class saxophonist and composer Bill Evans.

This artist is sometimes called a true renaissance musician of 21st century. He learned his art of saxophone by Dave Liebman’s side. In the age of 19 he became Miles Davis’s accompanying musician and eventually recorded six albums together with him. Miles himself considers Bill one of the most brilliant musicians he’s personally met.

Bill Evans has also collaborated with other jazz legends, namely Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, John McLaughlin, Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Danny Gottlieb and Ian Anderson. His genre of music is fusion jazz, based primarily on saxophone and also influenced by R’n’B, funk and rock.

On the concert that took place on 9th July he performed together with The Spy Killers project, which includes drummer Wolfgang Haffner, keyboardist Simon Oslender and bassist Gary Grainger.

The concert itself was an explosive mixture of solo showoffs, lyrical moments and temperamental compositions played with full musical perfrection. Like most artists of this caliber, Bill and his accomplices were laidback, made jokes along with the public, frequently improvised and played with their music.

It was one of those exceptional concerts that really made us wish for a sequel.