blues dream 2:31
ron carter 6:45
pretty flowers were made for blooming 3:20
pretty stars were made to shine 1:38
where do we go? 5:20
like dreamers do (part one) 1:34
like dreamers do (part two) 2:37
outlaws 4:18
what do we do? 7:06
episode 0:47
soul merchant 2:40
greg liesz 6:14
the tractor 2:26
fifty years 1:30
slow dance 3:08
things will never be the same 4:46
dream on 3:03
blues dream (reprise) 1:53

For some reason I was initially very bored with this album. It sounded kind of tired to me, like Bill was fally into patterns. The more I listen, the more I'm entranced by the album. The whole disc holds together so beautifully, framed by the two impressionistic blues dream vignettes. Small gems like the deft, flurrying horn arranging over the bopping country swing of "Tractor" and the absolutely gorgeous "Like Dreamers Do (Part One)" are sprinkled among such longer epics as "things will never be the same", "what do we do?" and "where do we go?" I read some posting on the net that noted how Bill is continuing the jazz tradition by mining popular music of the past thirty years instead of the pop music of the 1930's and 40's. I think the observation is perfectly illustrated in Blues Dream, which takes in everything mournful, hopeful and glorious from popular styles of music from the past thirty years or so and brews it into an album that speaks of the American experience, the broad highways, the winding backroads, the simple joys and the broken dreams of something better.

The Music for "Blues Dream" was commissioned by the Walker Art Center, with funds from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. It received its premiere performance at the Walker in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 15, 1999.