Reviewed by by Fred Grand

Known primarily for work with both Ben Allison's Herbie Nichols Project and Jazz Composers Collective, and no stranger to reed-section duties with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, saxophonist and composer Ted Nash now steps out as a leader of his own post-bop quintet. There are many remarkable things about this record, but for Nash to have coaxed the unfeasibly pious Wynton Marsalis down from his ivory tower to play as a sideman with such fire and creativity is little short of sensationsal. In an attractive, varied and frequently infectious set of compostions that linger in the mind, this is contemorary jazz of rare and genuine distinction. Marsalis shares the trumpet chair with the equally impressive Marcus Printup, and the contrast between the two is interesting to observe. Printup plays more comfortable in the blues idiom and the material he's given seems to acknowledge that. Nash's own style is relatively unflamboyant, a dark sinewy improviser who prefers to stay "inside" the changes.

It is actually Marsalis who takes most of the risks -- his growls and upper register exclamations on "The Shooting Star" sounding almost avant-garde (albeit if only in the same manner as Freddie Hubbard's most outward-bound moments from the mid 60s). The title track is the type of relaxed retro-swinger that could just as easily have been performed by the Vandermark 5 as a dedication to Shelly Manne. "Bells of Brescia" gives Marsalis a chance to re-examine Miles' way with a ballad, and he plays it beautifully. Matt Wilson consolidates his burgeoning reputation with a probing presence throughout, whilst both Allison and Kimbrough demonstrate the virtue of familiarity amongst regular working partners. Nowhere is the band's togetherness better felt than on "Rubber Soul," where the collective delight at their in-the-pocket performance is preserved as the tapes roll on. Still Evolved looks both backwards and forwards equally convincingly and is unreservedly recommended.