Californian born Adriana Evans is usually credited with being amongst one of the earliest exponents of Neo-Soul. Her formative years were surrounded by music with a family heritage of Jazz musicianship around her. Her mother was Mary Stallings who sang with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie bands. Her godfather was the legendary sax player Pharoah Sanders. Somehow it must have been inevitable that she would destined to be a performer. Much of her recorded output shows a distinctive soulful jazz influence on her work. Her father's Afro-Cuban background also tends to be reflected in many of the songs that she has written as well as performed. Being raised in San Francisco it it was probably inevitable that the diverse city musical scenes will have impacted on her musical evolution.
Today I'm going to feature two tracks taken from her albums Walking With the Night (2010) and Adriana Evans (1996). As a bonus I'm also putting in a live performance so you can see for yourself just how good this lady really is. But first lets go with Surrender (2010).
From her very first album i'm going with Love Is All Around which I hasten to add has nothing to do with the 60s pop tune by the Troggs!
OK. Good, isn't she? An artist who deserves more of our time and attention. Not on your playlists? It's about time don't you think you acquired her albums? Finally, for the time being, an early live video of Adriana Evans performing Seeing Is Believing. Now that's a great performance.
Her last two albums were released on the UK Expansion label. The earlier albums are also still available. Visit Amazon UK here to check them out.
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