The Complete Riverside Recordings - 12 cd's
by Scott Yanow
This magnificent 12-CD set contains all of Bill Evans' Riverside recordings as a leader, an extremely important period in the influential pianist's development. The first session predates Evans' period with the Miles Davis Sextet and other significant sessions include his sets with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian (highlighted by the marathon Village Vanguard session of June 25, 1961), Evans' return nearly a year after LaFaro's death in a car accident with a new trio (consisting of Motian and bassist Chuck Israels), a sideman set with altoist Cannonball Adderley, the Interplay sessions with either trumpeter Freddie Hubbard or tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, an extensive and rather somber solo set, and a 1963 appearance at Shelly's Manne Hole with bassist Israels and drummer Larry Bunker. Twenty sessions are released in full, 151 selections in all, including 24 performances that had been previously unissued at the time. Fortunately for listeners with a budget, nearly all of this material has since been reissued on single CDs (mostly as part of the Original Jazz Classics series), but true Bill Evans fanatics will have to get this remarkable box.
By Concord
This CD compilation presents, on 12 discs, the full results of 20 recording sessions from the pivotal eight-year period (1956-63) that launched the remarkable career of Bill Evans and defined his position as one of the most significant, pace-setting jazz pianists of all time.
Here, in chronological order, are 151 performances, including the entire existing output of the legendary 1961 Village Vanguard session, as well as 17 selections from a previously unissued solo studio session and seven other unreleased items. Ranging from solo to quintet, this collection also features such major artists as Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Philly Joe Jones, Jim Hall, Percy Heath, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Zoot Sims, and Scott LaFaro.
Contains a 32-page illustrated booklet that includes rare photography, full discographical details, an appreciation of Evans by noted critic Martin Williams, and personal commentary on each session by producer Orrin Keepnews.
By Concord
This CD compilation presents, on 12 discs, the full results of 20 recording sessions from the pivotal eight-year period (1956-63) that launched the remarkable career of Bill Evans and defined his position as one of the most significant, pace-setting jazz pianists of all time.
Here, in chronological order, are 151 performances, including the entire existing output of the legendary 1961 Village Vanguard session, as well as 17 selections from a previously unissued solo studio session and seven other unreleased items. Ranging from solo to quintet, this collection also features such major artists as Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Philly Joe Jones, Jim Hall, Percy Heath, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Zoot Sims, and Scott LaFaro.
Contains a 32-page illustrated booklet that includes rare photography, full discographical details, an appreciation of Evans by noted critic Martin Williams, and personal commentary on each session by producer Orrin Keepnews.
By N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada)
This review is from: The Complete Riverside Recordings (Audio CD)
Like a lot of boxed sets of first-rank artists, the real question is: do you need it? Most of the albums included here are the lynchpins of Bill Evans' oeuvre, & some of the most familiar & influential jazz of the postbop era. So: here's a quick runthrough of what you get--you can make up your mind, depending on how much of this material you already have:
_New Jazz Conceptions_--a solid early date with Teddy Kotick & Paul Motian; Evans is as yet not that distinctive a pianist, & the real early achievements are to be found in his sideman appearances on George Russell's albums.
_Everybody Digs Bill Evans_--a date from two years later, during Evans' tenure with Miles Davis; the rhythm section is Sam Jones & Philly Joe Jones. The first great Evans album, split between hard-hitting uptempo numbers like "Oleo" and his trademark luminous ballads like "Young and Foolish".
A session with Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones only released in 1975: this was an unplanned recording (they were in the studio as the rhythm section for a Chet Baker date, & the producer invited them to continue afterwards & cut a trio recording); the material is easily picked standards. An excellent date, & one of the only ones here not currently available outside of the box set.
_Portrait in Jazz_, _Explorations_, _Sunday at the Village Vanguard_, _Waltz for Debby_: the classic trio with Scott LaFaro & Paul Motian. This is material every jazz fan should know. Nice to have the Vanguard tracks here in the original order of playing, rather than the ordering on the CD reissues, which puts duplicate versions of the same tune next to each other.
Cannonball Adderley's _Know What I Mean?_, a session included because it was intended as a feature for Evans. Some interesting material on this one: the title track is a modal tune; "Elsa" is an Earl Zindars tune that Evans also covered on _Explorations_; "Toy" is a tune by Adderley's protege, the saxophonist Clifford Jordan (cf. Jordan's _Spellbound_ date).
A previously unreleased abortive attempt at a solo album: Evans was still very depressed about LaFaro's death in a car accident at the time, & there's some of Evans' most downcast & fragile ballad-playing here. Not perhaps a session to listen to too often, but interesting, & again it's not available outside this set.
_Moon Beams_ & _How My Heart Sings!_: dates with Chuck Israel on bass in place of the late Scott LaFaro; the date is especially notable for the return of Evans the composer (with LaFaro in the band Evans seems to have taken a back seat in this regard, encouraging LaFaro to contribute originals like "Jade Visions" & "Gloria's Steps"). Classic tunes like "Very Early" receive their premieres here.
_Interplay_ and _Loose Blues_. The former is a pleasing if inconsequential date with Jim Hall, Freddie Hubbard, Percy Heath & Philly Joe Jones, mostly doing lightweight old standards like "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams"; the most important track is the one original, the intricate contrapuntal blues "Interplay". _Loose Blues_ has a similar group, with Hubbard & Heath replaced by Zoot Sims & Ron Carter; it is all originals, often very interesting ones, but the session went unreleased until after Evans' death because the musicians had such difficulty with the tunes that it proved impossible to produce complete & acceptable takes of several of the tracks. The versions here are spliced together from multiple takes. An interesting session, not least for glimpses of originals like "Fun Ride" which Evans never included in his regular repertoire, but not an especially successful date.
A superb & very important solo session, Evans's first; this went unreleased at the time, & only appeared after his detah in this box set, although it is now available separately. This is still something of the main attraction here: this is some of Evans's least celebrated music because of its belated release, but is certainly his finest recorded solo performance. One gets previews of material better-known in recordings he did for Verve--"Theme from Spartacus", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"--which is still at its freshest here, & there's a marvellous reading of "Nardis" which points ahead towards the unaccompanied improvisations on the tune which were the highlight of his late live recordings with Marc Johnson & Joe LaBarbara.
_Live at Shelly's Manne-Hole_ ends the set; there's some more material here than is available on the single-CD reissue of this date, which is very welcome. This material has Chuck Israels on bass, & on drums the west-coast player Larry Bunker. This is an underrated item in the Evans canon; it is notable for some well-prepared versions of standard material (there's a comprehensively reharmonized "What Is This Thing Called Love?" which deserves close study; & a deeply-felt "Round Midnight"), plus the first issued version of "Time Remembered" (the tune had earlier been on the unreleased Sims/Hall date).
There's little more to be said except: this is some of the great music of the last century. This set is certainly for those already committed to completism, but unlike many reissues this is a document that will also satisfy the casual listener: the sessions are not flooded with alternate takes & false starts, nor is there any bad music here. Of the unfamiliar material, I would single out the Evans/Chambers/Jones date & the solo sessions as first-rate; the others are more mixed in their success, but everything here is worth a listen.
![Cover (Consecration [Milestone]:Bill Evans Trio)](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf400/f456/f45633fzop0.jpg)
By Samuel Chell
by Scott Yanow
During an 18-year period, fan Mike Harris went to the Village Vanguard whenever pianist Bill Evans appeared and privately taped his performances. More than a decade after Evans' death, Harris made all the proper legal arrangements and producer Orrin Keepnews released music from 26 different occasions on this eight-CD box set, 104 selections in all. With the exception of the first date (and to a lesser extent the last one), the recording quality is surprisingly good, making this a real bonanza for Bill Evans' other fans. The pianist is joined by bassist Eddie Gomez on all of the numbers (except for the first eight, which have Teddy Kotick), along with drummers Arnie Wise, Joe Hunt, Philly Joe Jones, Jack DeJohnette (clearly the most modern of the drummers), John Dentz, Marty Morell and Eliot Zigmund. Since Evans' style did not evolve much during the period, Eddie Gomez's growth as a soloist and the way that the various drummers adapt their styles to Evans' are probably the two main reasons to acquire the set. But Bill Evans fanatics do not have to be told twice about this attractive package's existence.
By Concord
By Glenn Astarita
by Scott Yanow
Bill Evans' Fantasy recordings of 1973-1979 have often been underrated in favor of his earlier work but, as this remarkable nine-CD set continually shows, the influential pianist continued to grow as a musician through the years while holding on to his original conception and distinctive sound. The collection has all of the 98 selections recorded at Evans' 11 Fantasy sessions, including nine numbers from a previously unreleased 1976 concert with his trio. In addition, Evans' appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio program is tacked on as a bonus and it is actually among McPartland's finest shows, a fascinating hour of discussion and music with Evans. Nearly all of the performances on this box (which includes duets with bassist Eddie Gomez and singer Tony Bennett, trio outings with Gomez and either Marty Morell or Eliot Zigmund on drums, and a couple of quintet sets with the likes of tenors Harold Land and Warne Marsh, altoist Lee Konitz, guitarist Kenny Burrell, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Philly Joe Jones) is available individually on CD but Bill Evans' more passionate collectors will certainly want this definitive box. The only minus is Gene Lees' typically self-serving liner notes; he always seems to love to write about himself.
By Fantasy/Concord
Here is the complete body of work recorded by Bill Evans as released by the Fantasy label during the seven-year period closely preceding Evans’s untimely death in 1980.
The set contains 98 selections recorded by the influential jazz pianist between 1973 and 1979 in club, concert, or studio settings, plus a previously unreleased 1976 Paris concert recording. Also included is a fascinating hour-long interview with Evans at the piano, conducted by Marian McPartland and originally broadcast on National Public Radio in 1978.
In these solo, duo, trio, and quintet performances with Tony Bennett, Ray Brown, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Gomez, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Konitz, Harold Land, Warne Marsh, Marty Morell, and Eliot Zigmund, Bill Evans is revealed as a commanding artist at the peak of his powers.
Contains a 32-page illustrated booklet with essay by Gene Lees and notes on the sessions by Helen Keane.
Produced by HELEN KEANE
By twinky@start.com.au (Canberra, Australia)
_New Jazz Conceptions_--a solid early date with Teddy Kotick & Paul Motian; Evans is as yet not that distinctive a pianist, & the real early achievements are to be found in his sideman appearances on George Russell's albums.
_Everybody Digs Bill Evans_--a date from two years later, during Evans' tenure with Miles Davis; the rhythm section is Sam Jones & Philly Joe Jones. The first great Evans album, split between hard-hitting uptempo numbers like "Oleo" and his trademark luminous ballads like "Young and Foolish".
A session with Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones only released in 1975: this was an unplanned recording (they were in the studio as the rhythm section for a Chet Baker date, & the producer invited them to continue afterwards & cut a trio recording); the material is easily picked standards. An excellent date, & one of the only ones here not currently available outside of the box set.
_Portrait in Jazz_, _Explorations_, _Sunday at the Village Vanguard_, _Waltz for Debby_: the classic trio with Scott LaFaro & Paul Motian. This is material every jazz fan should know. Nice to have the Vanguard tracks here in the original order of playing, rather than the ordering on the CD reissues, which puts duplicate versions of the same tune next to each other.
Cannonball Adderley's _Know What I Mean?_, a session included because it was intended as a feature for Evans. Some interesting material on this one: the title track is a modal tune; "Elsa" is an Earl Zindars tune that Evans also covered on _Explorations_; "Toy" is a tune by Adderley's protege, the saxophonist Clifford Jordan (cf. Jordan's _Spellbound_ date).
A previously unreleased abortive attempt at a solo album: Evans was still very depressed about LaFaro's death in a car accident at the time, & there's some of Evans' most downcast & fragile ballad-playing here. Not perhaps a session to listen to too often, but interesting, & again it's not available outside this set.
_Moon Beams_ & _How My Heart Sings!_: dates with Chuck Israel on bass in place of the late Scott LaFaro; the date is especially notable for the return of Evans the composer (with LaFaro in the band Evans seems to have taken a back seat in this regard, encouraging LaFaro to contribute originals like "Jade Visions" & "Gloria's Steps"). Classic tunes like "Very Early" receive their premieres here.
_Interplay_ and _Loose Blues_. The former is a pleasing if inconsequential date with Jim Hall, Freddie Hubbard, Percy Heath & Philly Joe Jones, mostly doing lightweight old standards like "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams"; the most important track is the one original, the intricate contrapuntal blues "Interplay". _Loose Blues_ has a similar group, with Hubbard & Heath replaced by Zoot Sims & Ron Carter; it is all originals, often very interesting ones, but the session went unreleased until after Evans' death because the musicians had such difficulty with the tunes that it proved impossible to produce complete & acceptable takes of several of the tracks. The versions here are spliced together from multiple takes. An interesting session, not least for glimpses of originals like "Fun Ride" which Evans never included in his regular repertoire, but not an especially successful date.
A superb & very important solo session, Evans's first; this went unreleased at the time, & only appeared after his detah in this box set, although it is now available separately. This is still something of the main attraction here: this is some of Evans's least celebrated music because of its belated release, but is certainly his finest recorded solo performance. One gets previews of material better-known in recordings he did for Verve--"Theme from Spartacus", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"--which is still at its freshest here, & there's a marvellous reading of "Nardis" which points ahead towards the unaccompanied improvisations on the tune which were the highlight of his late live recordings with Marc Johnson & Joe LaBarbara.
_Live at Shelly's Manne-Hole_ ends the set; there's some more material here than is available on the single-CD reissue of this date, which is very welcome. This material has Chuck Israels on bass, & on drums the west-coast player Larry Bunker. This is an underrated item in the Evans canon; it is notable for some well-prepared versions of standard material (there's a comprehensively reharmonized "What Is This Thing Called Love?" which deserves close study; & a deeply-felt "Round Midnight"), plus the first issued version of "Time Remembered" (the tune had earlier been on the unreleased Sims/Hall date).
There's little more to be said except: this is some of the great music of the last century. This set is certainly for those already committed to completism, but unlike many reissues this is a document that will also satisfy the casual listener: the sessions are not flooded with alternate takes & false starts, nor is there any bad music here. Of the unfamiliar material, I would single out the Evans/Chambers/Jones date & the solo sessions as first-rate; the others are more mixed in their success, but everything here is worth a listen.
Bill Evans
The Complete Bill Evans on Verve -18 cd's
By Doug Ramsey
The big news about The Complete Bill Evans on Verve is not that it is complete, however important it is to have under one (tin) roof the pianist's enormous output for the label. Nor is the big news the odd packaging, although the package demands comment. The big news is that the box contains 31 previously unissued tracks of Evans with Philly Joe Jones and Eddie Gomez at the Village Vanguard and 34 with Larry Bunker and Chuck Israels at the Trident Club.
Bud Powell and Max Roach, Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, Evans and Philly Joe; magic resulted from those relationships of pianists and drummers. The joy that Evans and Jones found in making music together suffuses the three CDs worth of music they taped with Gomez at the Vanguard on two nights in the summer of 1967. Five versions of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" comprise a chronicle of their affinity as they trade four-bar and then two-bar phrases in controlled outbursts of energy, humor and passion. It is a routine, but a routine built on spontaneity and surprise. There are five cuts of "G Waltz," five of "Emily," four of "California, Here I Come," four of "You're Gonna Hear From Me," four of "Alfie" and several tunes Evans rarely played, including "Happiness is a Thing Called Joe," all fresh and full of adventure in the presence of the rapt Vanguard audience. Gomez, a year into his eleven-year tenure and getting the hang of Evans' music, loosens up and matches Jones' drive. These tracks and 25 of the Evans-Jones-Gomez trio from the same period in Fantasy's "Secret Sessions" box constitute an archive of one of the great jazz partnerships.
In the Trident engagement three years earlier, Bunker's drumming is precise, befitting a premier percussionist. His fires are stoked lower than Jones', but his intensity stimulates both Evans' swing and his lyricism. Israels' playing is some of his most powerful on record. Among pieces Evans rarely or never otherwise played are "'Deed I Do," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and "My Love is an April Song." As in the case of the Vanguard sessions with Jones, a few of these performances were issued on LP. Evans, apparently, wanted none of the Trident date released. It is difficult to imagine why.
The other troves of newly unearthed music are from the Trio 64, Stan Getz and From Left To Right sessions. With bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian in Trio 64, there are instructive alternate takes of "Always" and "I'll See You Again." Peacock indicates that he might have developed into the logical successor to Scott LaFaro if he had stayed with Evans. The Getz material consists of unissued takes and fragments including a riotous minute and 19 seconds of him and Evans attempting the Gene Krupa Trio arrangement of "Dark Eyes." It is the only recorded evidence I've heard that Getz was capable of overt humor. Nonetheless, he clearly has fun with Richard Davis, Elvin Jones and Getz in powerhouse performances on several takes of "My Heart Stood Still," "Night and Day" and "Funkallero."
From Left To Right may have been, as Phil Bailey suggests in his session notes, "aimed at the easy-listening audience," but it contained one of the finest solos of Evans' career on "The Dolphin." Mickey Leonard's orchestration in the "after" version of the piece complemented perfectly what Evans played "before." Now we learn that there were seven "before" takes (all here) and that the one used in the album was a doctored breakdown. There were eight takes of "Why Did I Choose You?," four of "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?," three each of several other pieces. Without Evans or producer Helen Keane to ask, it's hard to know why so many were necessary. In the pieces on which he uses electric piano, Evans achieves the impossible; he transmits his unmistakable touch through the electronic keyboard. Leonard's writing is exquisite.
As for the rest of the Verve recordings, there is little to add to what has been said and written about them over the years. Evans is brilliant; playful in the trio sessions with Shelly Manne, reflective in chamber music with Gary McFarland and Jim Hall, the perfect accompanist in the sessions with Monica Zetterlund and Jeremy Steig. His "with Symphony Orchestra" album holds up best because of the success of his originals, "My Bells" and "Time Remembered" and Klaus Ogermann's "Elegia." The Granados, Bach, Chopin and Scriabin pieces are less gripping. The album recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968, with drummer Jack DeJohnette inspired, captures Evans at the pinnacle of his art. It is beautifully remastered.
The three-piano, two-piano and solo albums, Conversations With Myself, Further Conversations With Myself and Alone, are reproduced entirely, with a couple of fragmented takes added to Alone. They are classics of recorded piano, regardless of idiom.
The collection ends with three tracks of Evans performing with Don Elliott at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957, when his first trio album had just been released and he was barely known. The next year he became Miles Davis' pianist. His Riverside albums began to sell. His life, and jazz piano, changed.
Now about the package. Verve's innovations in CD packaging are well known and generally admired. This one is more likely to be notorious. The hinged sheet metal box opens to disclose two interior sections holding a book and another, removable, metal container with the discs. My review copy appears to have spots of rust in places, but that may be part of the design. The corners of the sleeves are riveted into place and pivot out to allow the listener to remove the discs, an action requiring dexterity. With patience, it can be done. The design of the box is reminiscent of that of a block of apartment houses I saw in Bratislava shortly after the Communist regime collapsed in Eastern Europe. The box has sharp edges. It might be well to keep it off of polished wooden surfaces.
The book has 157 pages of discographical information, pictures, essays, session notes and interviews. One interview is of Evans by pianist John Mehegan, another of producer Creed Taylor by Phil Bailey. There are two no-holds-barred discussions led by Bill Kirchner, one with pianists who admire Evans, one with musicians who worked with him. There are many photographs, some apparently new to print, of Evans and his associates and a marvelous one of him, his parents and his brother. The type, as it must be in CD-sized formats, is tiny. Some of it is doubly hard to read because it is in light ink on light or busy backgrounds, a sadism in which art directors seem to delight. Production of the book included the recall of a badly glued batch. That caused delays in the release of the album.
The package could be better. The music could not be.
By Edwin W. Skinner, Jr. "kindofblue" (Rocky Mount, NC)
The big news about The Complete Bill Evans on Verve is not that it is complete, however important it is to have under one (tin) roof the pianist's enormous output for the label. Nor is the big news the odd packaging, although the package demands comment. The big news is that the box contains 31 previously unissued tracks of Evans with Philly Joe Jones and Eddie Gomez at the Village Vanguard and 34 with Larry Bunker and Chuck Israels at the Trident Club.
Bud Powell and Max Roach, Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, Evans and Philly Joe; magic resulted from those relationships of pianists and drummers. The joy that Evans and Jones found in making music together suffuses the three CDs worth of music they taped with Gomez at the Vanguard on two nights in the summer of 1967. Five versions of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" comprise a chronicle of their affinity as they trade four-bar and then two-bar phrases in controlled outbursts of energy, humor and passion. It is a routine, but a routine built on spontaneity and surprise. There are five cuts of "G Waltz," five of "Emily," four of "California, Here I Come," four of "You're Gonna Hear From Me," four of "Alfie" and several tunes Evans rarely played, including "Happiness is a Thing Called Joe," all fresh and full of adventure in the presence of the rapt Vanguard audience. Gomez, a year into his eleven-year tenure and getting the hang of Evans' music, loosens up and matches Jones' drive. These tracks and 25 of the Evans-Jones-Gomez trio from the same period in Fantasy's "Secret Sessions" box constitute an archive of one of the great jazz partnerships.
In the Trident engagement three years earlier, Bunker's drumming is precise, befitting a premier percussionist. His fires are stoked lower than Jones', but his intensity stimulates both Evans' swing and his lyricism. Israels' playing is some of his most powerful on record. Among pieces Evans rarely or never otherwise played are "'Deed I Do," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and "My Love is an April Song." As in the case of the Vanguard sessions with Jones, a few of these performances were issued on LP. Evans, apparently, wanted none of the Trident date released. It is difficult to imagine why.
The other troves of newly unearthed music are from the Trio 64, Stan Getz and From Left To Right sessions. With bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian in Trio 64, there are instructive alternate takes of "Always" and "I'll See You Again." Peacock indicates that he might have developed into the logical successor to Scott LaFaro if he had stayed with Evans. The Getz material consists of unissued takes and fragments including a riotous minute and 19 seconds of him and Evans attempting the Gene Krupa Trio arrangement of "Dark Eyes." It is the only recorded evidence I've heard that Getz was capable of overt humor. Nonetheless, he clearly has fun with Richard Davis, Elvin Jones and Getz in powerhouse performances on several takes of "My Heart Stood Still," "Night and Day" and "Funkallero."
From Left To Right may have been, as Phil Bailey suggests in his session notes, "aimed at the easy-listening audience," but it contained one of the finest solos of Evans' career on "The Dolphin." Mickey Leonard's orchestration in the "after" version of the piece complemented perfectly what Evans played "before." Now we learn that there were seven "before" takes (all here) and that the one used in the album was a doctored breakdown. There were eight takes of "Why Did I Choose You?," four of "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?," three each of several other pieces. Without Evans or producer Helen Keane to ask, it's hard to know why so many were necessary. In the pieces on which he uses electric piano, Evans achieves the impossible; he transmits his unmistakable touch through the electronic keyboard. Leonard's writing is exquisite.
As for the rest of the Verve recordings, there is little to add to what has been said and written about them over the years. Evans is brilliant; playful in the trio sessions with Shelly Manne, reflective in chamber music with Gary McFarland and Jim Hall, the perfect accompanist in the sessions with Monica Zetterlund and Jeremy Steig. His "with Symphony Orchestra" album holds up best because of the success of his originals, "My Bells" and "Time Remembered" and Klaus Ogermann's "Elegia." The Granados, Bach, Chopin and Scriabin pieces are less gripping. The album recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968, with drummer Jack DeJohnette inspired, captures Evans at the pinnacle of his art. It is beautifully remastered.
The three-piano, two-piano and solo albums, Conversations With Myself, Further Conversations With Myself and Alone, are reproduced entirely, with a couple of fragmented takes added to Alone. They are classics of recorded piano, regardless of idiom.
The collection ends with three tracks of Evans performing with Don Elliott at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957, when his first trio album had just been released and he was barely known. The next year he became Miles Davis' pianist. His Riverside albums began to sell. His life, and jazz piano, changed.
Now about the package. Verve's innovations in CD packaging are well known and generally admired. This one is more likely to be notorious. The hinged sheet metal box opens to disclose two interior sections holding a book and another, removable, metal container with the discs. My review copy appears to have spots of rust in places, but that may be part of the design. The corners of the sleeves are riveted into place and pivot out to allow the listener to remove the discs, an action requiring dexterity. With patience, it can be done. The design of the box is reminiscent of that of a block of apartment houses I saw in Bratislava shortly after the Communist regime collapsed in Eastern Europe. The box has sharp edges. It might be well to keep it off of polished wooden surfaces.
The book has 157 pages of discographical information, pictures, essays, session notes and interviews. One interview is of Evans by pianist John Mehegan, another of producer Creed Taylor by Phil Bailey. There are two no-holds-barred discussions led by Bill Kirchner, one with pianists who admire Evans, one with musicians who worked with him. There are many photographs, some apparently new to print, of Evans and his associates and a marvelous one of him, his parents and his brother. The type, as it must be in CD-sized formats, is tiny. Some of it is doubly hard to read because it is in light ink on light or busy backgrounds, a sadism in which art directors seem to delight. Production of the book included the recall of a badly glued batch. That caused delays in the release of the album.
The package could be better. The music could not be.
By Edwin W. Skinner, Jr. "kindofblue" (Rocky Mount, NC)
Wow. What a behemoth. I had looked & looked for this set - which is now out-of-print - and finally settled on a used copy, located in one of the amazon marketplace seller shops. First, let me say thanks to the marketplace seller (jazzyfreddy, by the way); the set is just as advertised: All 18 CD's are in tip-top shape, the artwork and booklet are immaculate (as immaculate as a metal box designed to rust can be) and the turnaround time on the order was very very fast. So, right off the bat, the experience was a good one.
And it got better. Several reviews of this item on amazon almost scared me off of buying the set. Most of the negative reviews centered around the cumbersome packaging and the possibility that some of the discs (housed only in vellum paper sleeves) might have glue on them, rendering them unplayable. And, after paying almost $400.00 for the set, if this had been the case, I would have been as upset as those reviewers.
But, I took the leap and I guess I was lucky. No problems with the discs and the metal box packaging . . . well, OK . . . it's cumbersome. But it's also very unique and I actually like it. Are the discs difficult to get out of (and back into)the sleeves? Yes. Does it pay to have some empty jewel boxes around for easy transport and for in-car playing? Yes again. Does the metal box rust - and will it continue to rust into perpetuity? Yes. But, once you climb these relatively small hurdles, you find that the music contained in these 18 discs makes all the hastle worthwhile.
This set represents, in some ways, the most experimental period of Evans' career. Why? Because you get Evans in a variety of settings, most well out of the comfort zone of his usual trio setup. You get Bill with strings, you get Bill with larger combos, you get solo Bill, you get Bill with vocalist, you get Bill on electric piano (admittedly, not my favorite Bill). And yes, you even get Bill in his favorite spot, leading a trio. But - like the packaging - this set is unique in presenting Evans in these varied and adventurous musical environments.
I currently own several Bill Evans box sets, from every period in his career - not to mention several individual discs from his later years. All of the music is great; much of it is simply sublime. This set - which took almost a month to get through - is no different. If I had a "problem" (probably the wrong word) with the Complete Bill Evans on Verve, it is a minor one: I don't think Bill Evans translates well on electric piano any more than Django Reinhardt does on electric guitar. There is a certain novelty to hearing Evans "go electric", but his bread-and-butter - indeed, his identity - is on the acoustic piano. Fortunately, the majority of this set (actually, the majority of Evans' recorded work) is on acoustic piano. And, as anyone considering a set like this knows, there has never been a more completely talented and influential pianist in the history of jazz than Bill Evans.
If you love Bill Evans' music or just love great jazz centered around piano playing, this set is worth seeking out. While officially out-of-print, new copies can be found (check amazon & ebay), but I recommend a used copy. That way, you can avoid some of the packaging pitfalls if you know the set has already been played and trust the seller when he says everything is kosher (thanks again, jazzyfreddy).
As another talented artist once said, Rust Never Sleeps and, at least for the 21 hours represented on these 18 discs, you won't either. Bill Evans' sublime beauty simply won't let you.
And it got better. Several reviews of this item on amazon almost scared me off of buying the set. Most of the negative reviews centered around the cumbersome packaging and the possibility that some of the discs (housed only in vellum paper sleeves) might have glue on them, rendering them unplayable. And, after paying almost $400.00 for the set, if this had been the case, I would have been as upset as those reviewers.
But, I took the leap and I guess I was lucky. No problems with the discs and the metal box packaging . . . well, OK . . . it's cumbersome. But it's also very unique and I actually like it. Are the discs difficult to get out of (and back into)the sleeves? Yes. Does it pay to have some empty jewel boxes around for easy transport and for in-car playing? Yes again. Does the metal box rust - and will it continue to rust into perpetuity? Yes. But, once you climb these relatively small hurdles, you find that the music contained in these 18 discs makes all the hastle worthwhile.
This set represents, in some ways, the most experimental period of Evans' career. Why? Because you get Evans in a variety of settings, most well out of the comfort zone of his usual trio setup. You get Bill with strings, you get Bill with larger combos, you get solo Bill, you get Bill with vocalist, you get Bill on electric piano (admittedly, not my favorite Bill). And yes, you even get Bill in his favorite spot, leading a trio. But - like the packaging - this set is unique in presenting Evans in these varied and adventurous musical environments.
I currently own several Bill Evans box sets, from every period in his career - not to mention several individual discs from his later years. All of the music is great; much of it is simply sublime. This set - which took almost a month to get through - is no different. If I had a "problem" (probably the wrong word) with the Complete Bill Evans on Verve, it is a minor one: I don't think Bill Evans translates well on electric piano any more than Django Reinhardt does on electric guitar. There is a certain novelty to hearing Evans "go electric", but his bread-and-butter - indeed, his identity - is on the acoustic piano. Fortunately, the majority of this set (actually, the majority of Evans' recorded work) is on acoustic piano. And, as anyone considering a set like this knows, there has never been a more completely talented and influential pianist in the history of jazz than Bill Evans.
If you love Bill Evans' music or just love great jazz centered around piano playing, this set is worth seeking out. While officially out-of-print, new copies can be found (check amazon & ebay), but I recommend a used copy. That way, you can avoid some of the packaging pitfalls if you know the set has already been played and trust the seller when he says everything is kosher (thanks again, jazzyfreddy).
As another talented artist once said, Rust Never Sleeps and, at least for the 21 hours represented on these 18 discs, you won't either. Bill Evans' sublime beauty simply won't let you.
Bill Evans
Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings - 06 cd's
By Jeff Stockton
The recent wave of celebrity deaths is a reminder that there's no greater loss the arts can suffer than losing someone in their creative prime. Pianist Bill Evans was 50 when he returned to New York's Village Vanguard for a series of dates in the summer of 1980 with his relatively new trio, and he was 51 when he passed away three months later. Evans would have turned 80 this year.
This trio—Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums—was on the verge of breaking new ground, much the way Evans' trio did 20 years earlier with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, himself tragically cut down while he was just getting started. And if the trio was Evans' preferred format— three musicians rising to the challenge of maintaining their individuality while contributing to the collective and making each of the parts better for it—this Bill Evans trio extended the exploration of modal structure, generated intense lyricism and functioned with unprecedented empathy and interplay.
The generous booklet included with the six discs of Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings, June 1980, a reissue of a box set that appeared in limited release in 1996, quotes Evans himself as saying he "had become rather rigid." Evans had found a style with his trio in 1961 and stuck with it. With the Johnson-LaBarbera rhythm section, however, "Things that were more or less static ha[d] gotten into motion and [were] developing." Like the great Evans trio of two decades prior, the pianist's lines were long and asymmetrical with crisp unpredictable accents. Each version in the repertoire led with a subtle rhythmic edge, all three players leaning into the beat, none more so than Evans, whose dynamism at the keyboard was conveyed by rich gradations of touch and impressionistic sweep.
At the center of the triangle was the bassist in the band, a slot defined by LaFaro's emergence as a second lead. Evans would play less to give the bassist space and the achingly slow tempos the pianist favored in his ballad playing were nurtured by LaFaro's style. From that point, playing bass in the Evans trio was like playing center field for the Yankees. They, at least, had Mickey Mantle come up to replace the great DiMaggio: Evans tried Chuck Israels, Gary Peacock and finally Eddie Gomez (for over a decade) before finding Marc Johnson. Traditional bassists would merely follow his lead, while free players were too free for Evans, who insisted on not just emotional content but artistic, aesthetic and formal content as well. Johnson has mobility and drive, combining pedal tones with double stops, guitar fluency and resonance. Joe LaBarbera is melody-centered, relating phrases to the theme, kicking his bass drum for continuity and utilizing his sticks for patterns. It's the rhythmic freedom and give and take among the players that infuses this music with excitement, suspense and the thrill of possibilities being realized.
There's a lot of piano here. Six discs, each over an hour, covering multiple sets in a five-night stand. Repetition is to be expected and the Evans repertoire didn't change much. His energy was directed toward improvisation and subtle variations from tune to tune. Completists as well as beginners are advised to start with disc four and its version of "Nardis" (played each night, at length), which lays out Evans' patterns developing from the underlying song form; a second version of "The Days of Wine and Roses," even jauntier than the first; a high-energy "Up With the Lark" and a fresh "Bill's Hit Tune" with the band swinging at full strength. Overall, expansive music featuring open exchanges that build to a steady momentum.
In the end, running on adrenaline, the band moves from "My Romance" (having tailored time with nips and tucks) straight into "Five." After a few choruses the tape runs out, missing out on the band's exclamatory chords as well as the audience's reaction. It's a fitting finale to a jazz life cut prematurely short.
This trio—Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums—was on the verge of breaking new ground, much the way Evans' trio did 20 years earlier with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, himself tragically cut down while he was just getting started. And if the trio was Evans' preferred format— three musicians rising to the challenge of maintaining their individuality while contributing to the collective and making each of the parts better for it—this Bill Evans trio extended the exploration of modal structure, generated intense lyricism and functioned with unprecedented empathy and interplay.
The generous booklet included with the six discs of Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings, June 1980, a reissue of a box set that appeared in limited release in 1996, quotes Evans himself as saying he "had become rather rigid." Evans had found a style with his trio in 1961 and stuck with it. With the Johnson-LaBarbera rhythm section, however, "Things that were more or less static ha[d] gotten into motion and [were] developing." Like the great Evans trio of two decades prior, the pianist's lines were long and asymmetrical with crisp unpredictable accents. Each version in the repertoire led with a subtle rhythmic edge, all three players leaning into the beat, none more so than Evans, whose dynamism at the keyboard was conveyed by rich gradations of touch and impressionistic sweep.
At the center of the triangle was the bassist in the band, a slot defined by LaFaro's emergence as a second lead. Evans would play less to give the bassist space and the achingly slow tempos the pianist favored in his ballad playing were nurtured by LaFaro's style. From that point, playing bass in the Evans trio was like playing center field for the Yankees. They, at least, had Mickey Mantle come up to replace the great DiMaggio: Evans tried Chuck Israels, Gary Peacock and finally Eddie Gomez (for over a decade) before finding Marc Johnson. Traditional bassists would merely follow his lead, while free players were too free for Evans, who insisted on not just emotional content but artistic, aesthetic and formal content as well. Johnson has mobility and drive, combining pedal tones with double stops, guitar fluency and resonance. Joe LaBarbera is melody-centered, relating phrases to the theme, kicking his bass drum for continuity and utilizing his sticks for patterns. It's the rhythmic freedom and give and take among the players that infuses this music with excitement, suspense and the thrill of possibilities being realized.
There's a lot of piano here. Six discs, each over an hour, covering multiple sets in a five-night stand. Repetition is to be expected and the Evans repertoire didn't change much. His energy was directed toward improvisation and subtle variations from tune to tune. Completists as well as beginners are advised to start with disc four and its version of "Nardis" (played each night, at length), which lays out Evans' patterns developing from the underlying song form; a second version of "The Days of Wine and Roses," even jauntier than the first; a high-energy "Up With the Lark" and a fresh "Bill's Hit Tune" with the band swinging at full strength. Overall, expansive music featuring open exchanges that build to a steady momentum.
In the end, running on adrenaline, the band moves from "My Romance" (having tailored time with nips and tucks) straight into "Five." After a few choruses the tape runs out, missing out on the band's exclamatory chords as well as the audience's reaction. It's a fitting finale to a jazz life cut prematurely short.
Tracks:
CD1: Bill's Hit Tune; Nardis; If You Could See Me Now; The Two Lonely People: Laurie; My Romance; Tiffany; Like Someone In Love; Letter To Evan.
CD2: Days Of Wine And Roses; Emily; My Foolish Heart; Nardis; Yet Ne'er Broken; Quiet Now; But Not For Me; Spring Is Here; Autumn Leaves.
CD3: Your Story; Re: Person I Knew; Polka Dots And Moonbeams; Two Lonely People, The; Theme From M*A*S*H; Tiffany; Turn Out The Stars; Laurie; My Romance; Knit For Mary F.; Midnight Mood; Time Remembered.
CD4: Days Of Wine And Roses; Up With The Lark; Nardis; Your Story; Yet Ne'er Broken; If You Could See Me Now; Bill's Hit Tune; Tiffany; In Your Own Sweet Way.
CD5: I Do It For Your Love; Five; Polka Dots And Moonbeams; Bill's Hit Tune; Turn Out The Stars; Days Of Wine And Roses; But Not For Me; Knit For Mary F.; Like Someone In Love; Quiet Now.
CD6: Emily; Nardis; Knit For Mary F.; Like Someone In Love; Letter To Evan; Minha; A Sleepin' Bee; My Romance/Five.
By Nonesuch
Though these extraordinary 1980 recordings were made only months before pianist Bill Evans’s untimely death on September 15, 1980, at the age of 51, they capture a beginning far more than an end. At the time of their initial release in 1996, jazz critic Gary Giddins hailed them as “an important find—the most lyrical of improvisers was revitalized by a new trio in his favorite jazz club.” Fellow Village Voice writer Will Friedwald concurred: “Evans is as irrepressibly romantic as ever on these live recordings, but at the same time there’s an aggression to his playing that makes these newly discovered documents some of the most exciting music of his career ... he proves that he can really tear into the keyboard and still sound like Bill Evans. Continually prodded by [bassist Marc] Johnson and [drummer Joe] LaBarbera even as he's inspiring them, this is tenderness supported by strength and even bite.”
Evans had clearly found players to match his first trio from 20 years earlier, which had cut a landmark live recording at the Village Vanguard in 1961. That now-legendary lineup of bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motion was shattered by the tragic death of LaFaro in a car crash. A sense of history and a feeling of renewal inform these 1980 sessions, and they illustrates the serious chemistry between Evans and his young accompanists. As pianist and friend Hank Danko recalls in his liner-notes essay, “When the trio lit into its ensemble passages, the impact was not unlike that of a roaring big band. This exuberant, extroverted and joyful approach extended to most of the material played, with Bill seeming, at times, to be its most youthful member.”
The performances on these six CDs—which feature both newly written originals and interpretations of the standards that Evans loved—were recorded on the evenings of June 4, 5, 6, and 8, 1980. Evans intended to release a double LP culled form these sessions, and he supervised the initial mixing and editing of the tapes. It would take more than 15 years before this material would become available, in an exhaustive, chronologically sequenced six-CD form, on the Warner Brothers label. This Nonesuch reissue contains the original packaging and liner notes, as well as the complete 1996 set.
CD1: Bill's Hit Tune; Nardis; If You Could See Me Now; The Two Lonely People: Laurie; My Romance; Tiffany; Like Someone In Love; Letter To Evan.
CD2: Days Of Wine And Roses; Emily; My Foolish Heart; Nardis; Yet Ne'er Broken; Quiet Now; But Not For Me; Spring Is Here; Autumn Leaves.
CD3: Your Story; Re: Person I Knew; Polka Dots And Moonbeams; Two Lonely People, The; Theme From M*A*S*H; Tiffany; Turn Out The Stars; Laurie; My Romance; Knit For Mary F.; Midnight Mood; Time Remembered.
CD4: Days Of Wine And Roses; Up With The Lark; Nardis; Your Story; Yet Ne'er Broken; If You Could See Me Now; Bill's Hit Tune; Tiffany; In Your Own Sweet Way.
CD5: I Do It For Your Love; Five; Polka Dots And Moonbeams; Bill's Hit Tune; Turn Out The Stars; Days Of Wine And Roses; But Not For Me; Knit For Mary F.; Like Someone In Love; Quiet Now.
CD6: Emily; Nardis; Knit For Mary F.; Like Someone In Love; Letter To Evan; Minha; A Sleepin' Bee; My Romance/Five.
By Nonesuch
Though these extraordinary 1980 recordings were made only months before pianist Bill Evans’s untimely death on September 15, 1980, at the age of 51, they capture a beginning far more than an end. At the time of their initial release in 1996, jazz critic Gary Giddins hailed them as “an important find—the most lyrical of improvisers was revitalized by a new trio in his favorite jazz club.” Fellow Village Voice writer Will Friedwald concurred: “Evans is as irrepressibly romantic as ever on these live recordings, but at the same time there’s an aggression to his playing that makes these newly discovered documents some of the most exciting music of his career ... he proves that he can really tear into the keyboard and still sound like Bill Evans. Continually prodded by [bassist Marc] Johnson and [drummer Joe] LaBarbera even as he's inspiring them, this is tenderness supported by strength and even bite.”
Evans had clearly found players to match his first trio from 20 years earlier, which had cut a landmark live recording at the Village Vanguard in 1961. That now-legendary lineup of bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motion was shattered by the tragic death of LaFaro in a car crash. A sense of history and a feeling of renewal inform these 1980 sessions, and they illustrates the serious chemistry between Evans and his young accompanists. As pianist and friend Hank Danko recalls in his liner-notes essay, “When the trio lit into its ensemble passages, the impact was not unlike that of a roaring big band. This exuberant, extroverted and joyful approach extended to most of the material played, with Bill seeming, at times, to be its most youthful member.”
The performances on these six CDs—which feature both newly written originals and interpretations of the standards that Evans loved—were recorded on the evenings of June 4, 5, 6, and 8, 1980. Evans intended to release a double LP culled form these sessions, and he supervised the initial mixing and editing of the tapes. It would take more than 15 years before this material would become available, in an exhaustive, chronologically sequenced six-CD form, on the Warner Brothers label. This Nonesuch reissue contains the original packaging and liner notes, as well as the complete 1996 set.
Turn Out the Stars was released at a time when many other posthumous Evans recordings, both official and bootleg, were surfacing on CD. This was the one that critics agreed was essential. The Los Angeles Times urged readers to experience the collection “as a series of complete club sets, with the music ebbing and flowing from piece to piece.” Evans, the newspaper noted, “was constantly in a state of quest, perpetually in search of an elusive musical goal, and—from his own point of view—never quite achieving it. The opportunity to share, even indirectly, in that quest is what, for the discerning listener, makes Evans’s music so endlessly intriguing.”
MUSICIANS:
Bill Evans, piano
Marc Johnson, bass
Joe LaBarbera, drums
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Recorded at the Village Vanguard, New York City, June 4-8, 1980
Produced for release by Jeff Levenson and Bill Kirchner
Executive Producer: Matt Pierson
Production Coordinator: Dana Watson
Original sessions produced by Helen Keane
Original location recording, remix, and digital mastering: Malcolm Addey
Original recording assistant: Jon Bobenko
Recorded June 4, 5, 6, 8, 1980, at the Village Vanguard, NYC
Originally released in 1996
Art direction: Mark Larson
Bill Evans
Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2 - 08 cd's
MUSICIANS:
Bill Evans, piano
Marc Johnson, bass
Joe LaBarbera, drums
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Recorded at the Village Vanguard, New York City, June 4-8, 1980
Produced for release by Jeff Levenson and Bill Kirchner
Executive Producer: Matt Pierson
Production Coordinator: Dana Watson
Original sessions produced by Helen Keane
Original location recording, remix, and digital mastering: Malcolm Addey
Original recording assistant: Jon Bobenko
Recorded June 4, 5, 6, 8, 1980, at the Village Vanguard, NYC
Originally released in 1996
Art direction: Mark Larson
Bill Evans
Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2 - 08 cd's
By Samuel Chell
I had assumed that these recordings fit into the category of "he plays well under the circumstances." Forget the qualifiers. Listening to this set and the previously released The Last Waltz is a bit like sharing the experience of the wild-eyed poet who has returned from feasting on the milk of paradise in Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." After tasting such nectar, nothing henceforward can satisfy the palette. So if the two sets (16 discs) comprising Evans' last stand seem extravagant in quantity and price, consider the possibility that they represent the musical equivalent of Keats' Grecian Urn, offering "all ye know and need to know."
Not that the pianist's playing over eight nights is uniformly sublime. The first couple of discs might sound, to a trained Evans observer, just a trifle more tentative whereas the last two bear a few faint traces of fatigue and auto-pilot. So if you have an opportunity to choose, go with discs 3 and 4 of either set. In particular, I especially recommend disc 3 as evidence of Evans at the zenith of his creative powers, not to mention piano prowess. He was late in arriving, so another headliner pianist, Denny Zeitlin, temporarily filled in for him. Knowing, first, that the bar had already been set high and second, that Zeitlin was still hanging around in the audience, Evans turns in an extraordinary set. On "Your Story" the dynamics positively "swell" from ppp to fff and back, yet the piano sound remains full-bodied at every volume level. On "Someday My Prince Will Come," the headliner launches perfectly-executed, not-stop pyrotechnical phrases at breathtaking speed. (Snow White has never sounded this animated, dramatic and alive!)
How to explain this extraordinary demonstration by a human being who would virtually self- destruct the following week? Little has been said about what a perfect mechanical specimen Bill Evans was, practically "designed" for one purpose: to the play the piano. His exceptionally thick and heavy fingers, his hand position, his arm placement—none of these deserted him even when the internal organs were failing him. The combination of muscle memory and a mind capable of focusing on nothing beyond the musical instant managed to keep death at bay through the vitality of art.
The music herein is light years beyond what any pianist since has been able to conceive, let alone execute. The only "faults" that might be weighed against any part of it are, first, that the creator occasionally has a tendency to get ahead of himself, the force of his passion and complexity of his ideas simply providing more than the moment can bear. All the more remarkable that the form holds, after bending sufficiently to create dramatic tensions that underscore the magnitude of the artist's grandiose design and achievement. Second, Evans invites some disruption of continuity and let-up of dramatic urgency whenever he defers to solos by Johnson or LaBarbera. But these moments, too, are understandable respites that allow the pianist to gather his strength for yet another glorious burst of lyric energy.
Consecration captures all of the first sets of the stand that would prove to be Bill Evans' valedictory, whereas Last Waltz is composed of the second sets. But lest that encourage a choice between the two collections, be aware that Bill comes charging out of the gate like a rampaging bull, or perhaps more aptly, a full-grown Keats.
By Concord
The Final Recordings, Part 2: Live at the Keystone Korner, September 1980.
Consecration, the final recordings of Bill Evans, is the companion piece to The Last Waltz, released on Milestone in 2000. Like that earlier collection, this one is an eight-CD boxed set, with the vastly influential pianist (and highly underrated composer)—in the company of his extraordinarily supportive colleagues, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera—captured live at the now-shuttered Keystone Korner, San Francisco, Aug.31-Sept. 7, 1980. Though Evans, long in poor health, was grievously ill at the time—and would die on Sept. 15, 1980, in New York—his playing throughout these performances is strong, sure, and utterly vibrant. (None of the performances herein duplicate those heard on The Last Waltz; these have never been previously issued in the ).
In Consecration’s booklet essay, Robert L. Deerschuk quotes drummer LaBarbera, who recalls: “Marc and I were fully aware that Bill was in bad shape. Bill was fully aware that Bill was in bad shape. But once he was on the bandstand and started playing, the man would transcend his physical limitations, even though I don’t know how.” A significant factor in Evans’s rising to the occasion as he neared the end was, of course, the emphatic presence of his young bandmates. The pianist had proudly noted on several occasions that his last trio was the very best he’d led since his first working group, the 1959-1961 unit featuring the late bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. In their uniquely quiet way, Evans, LaFaro, and Motian entirely revolutionized the concept of the piano-bass-drums ensemble. Evans, Johnson, and LaBarbera continued in the one-for-all-and-all-for-one tradition, then upped the ante by going for a more aggressive, somewhat less introspective approach.
While Evans’s signature harmonically probing balladry is indeed in evidence throughout Consecration’s seven-and-a-half hours of sublime music, the pianist’s legion of fans and admirers recognized that he was moving in a looser, more propulsive direction, but one that was entirely in the service of creative music-making—always the number one priority.
Consecration’s eight sets contain 68 performances of 24 different tunes. As was Evans’s wont, the repertoire primarily reflects his ongoing interest in the American Popular Song and its forms, and composers from Jerome Kern to Paul Simon. The pianist also contributes nine originals, most of them written during his later years. Consecration will, among its many attributes, only add to Evans’s reputation as a first rate compositional thinker. We already knew that he was one of the absolute greatest improvising pianists who ever lived.
By Patrick D. Goonan (Livermore, CA)
Not that the pianist's playing over eight nights is uniformly sublime. The first couple of discs might sound, to a trained Evans observer, just a trifle more tentative whereas the last two bear a few faint traces of fatigue and auto-pilot. So if you have an opportunity to choose, go with discs 3 and 4 of either set. In particular, I especially recommend disc 3 as evidence of Evans at the zenith of his creative powers, not to mention piano prowess. He was late in arriving, so another headliner pianist, Denny Zeitlin, temporarily filled in for him. Knowing, first, that the bar had already been set high and second, that Zeitlin was still hanging around in the audience, Evans turns in an extraordinary set. On "Your Story" the dynamics positively "swell" from ppp to fff and back, yet the piano sound remains full-bodied at every volume level. On "Someday My Prince Will Come," the headliner launches perfectly-executed, not-stop pyrotechnical phrases at breathtaking speed. (Snow White has never sounded this animated, dramatic and alive!)
How to explain this extraordinary demonstration by a human being who would virtually self- destruct the following week? Little has been said about what a perfect mechanical specimen Bill Evans was, practically "designed" for one purpose: to the play the piano. His exceptionally thick and heavy fingers, his hand position, his arm placement—none of these deserted him even when the internal organs were failing him. The combination of muscle memory and a mind capable of focusing on nothing beyond the musical instant managed to keep death at bay through the vitality of art.
The music herein is light years beyond what any pianist since has been able to conceive, let alone execute. The only "faults" that might be weighed against any part of it are, first, that the creator occasionally has a tendency to get ahead of himself, the force of his passion and complexity of his ideas simply providing more than the moment can bear. All the more remarkable that the form holds, after bending sufficiently to create dramatic tensions that underscore the magnitude of the artist's grandiose design and achievement. Second, Evans invites some disruption of continuity and let-up of dramatic urgency whenever he defers to solos by Johnson or LaBarbera. But these moments, too, are understandable respites that allow the pianist to gather his strength for yet another glorious burst of lyric energy.
Consecration captures all of the first sets of the stand that would prove to be Bill Evans' valedictory, whereas Last Waltz is composed of the second sets. But lest that encourage a choice between the two collections, be aware that Bill comes charging out of the gate like a rampaging bull, or perhaps more aptly, a full-grown Keats.
The Final Recordings, Part 2: Live at the Keystone Korner, September 1980.
Consecration, the final recordings of Bill Evans, is the companion piece to The Last Waltz, released on Milestone in 2000. Like that earlier collection, this one is an eight-CD boxed set, with the vastly influential pianist (and highly underrated composer)—in the company of his extraordinarily supportive colleagues, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera—captured live at the now-shuttered Keystone Korner, San Francisco, Aug.31-Sept. 7, 1980. Though Evans, long in poor health, was grievously ill at the time—and would die on Sept. 15, 1980, in New York—his playing throughout these performances is strong, sure, and utterly vibrant. (None of the performances herein duplicate those heard on The Last Waltz; these have never been previously issued in the ).
In Consecration’s booklet essay, Robert L. Deerschuk quotes drummer LaBarbera, who recalls: “Marc and I were fully aware that Bill was in bad shape. Bill was fully aware that Bill was in bad shape. But once he was on the bandstand and started playing, the man would transcend his physical limitations, even though I don’t know how.” A significant factor in Evans’s rising to the occasion as he neared the end was, of course, the emphatic presence of his young bandmates. The pianist had proudly noted on several occasions that his last trio was the very best he’d led since his first working group, the 1959-1961 unit featuring the late bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. In their uniquely quiet way, Evans, LaFaro, and Motian entirely revolutionized the concept of the piano-bass-drums ensemble. Evans, Johnson, and LaBarbera continued in the one-for-all-and-all-for-one tradition, then upped the ante by going for a more aggressive, somewhat less introspective approach.
While Evans’s signature harmonically probing balladry is indeed in evidence throughout Consecration’s seven-and-a-half hours of sublime music, the pianist’s legion of fans and admirers recognized that he was moving in a looser, more propulsive direction, but one that was entirely in the service of creative music-making—always the number one priority.
Consecration’s eight sets contain 68 performances of 24 different tunes. As was Evans’s wont, the repertoire primarily reflects his ongoing interest in the American Popular Song and its forms, and composers from Jerome Kern to Paul Simon. The pianist also contributes nine originals, most of them written during his later years. Consecration will, among its many attributes, only add to Evans’s reputation as a first rate compositional thinker. We already knew that he was one of the absolute greatest improvising pianists who ever lived.
By Patrick D. Goonan (Livermore, CA)
I am a piano player and a BIG fan of Bill Evans. I probably own every album or nearly every album he has made that is currently available. I have heard him in many contexts and I own a lot of the transcriptions of his playing, which I have studied in a fair amount of depth.
In my opinion, this is Bill Evans at his best, most expressive, most passionate and mature. This particular trio with Marc Johnson is also my favorite context for Bill's playing and in these recordings LaBarbera, Johnson and Evans are solidly in the groove from start to finish.
I have to wonder when I listen to these recordings if Bill knew he was going to die and this was going to be his last performance. There is an intensity behind the his playing that is somewhat beyond anything he did before this period. The recording of Letter to Evan on one of these CDs is highly unusual compared to how he has performed it in the past. When I heard it for the first time, I thought just having this recording was worth the cost of the set!
Finally, the sound quality here is as good as you are going to get for Bill's recordings. His sensitivity and tone shine through and the spirit of a live performance is captured. There is electricity in the air. In short, this is a great recording and a "must have" for any Bill Evans fan. The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live which was cut from the same engagement is also excellent.
In my opinion, this is Bill Evans at his best, most expressive, most passionate and mature. This particular trio with Marc Johnson is also my favorite context for Bill's playing and in these recordings LaBarbera, Johnson and Evans are solidly in the groove from start to finish.
I have to wonder when I listen to these recordings if Bill knew he was going to die and this was going to be his last performance. There is an intensity behind the his playing that is somewhat beyond anything he did before this period. The recording of Letter to Evan on one of these CDs is highly unusual compared to how he has performed it in the past. When I heard it for the first time, I thought just having this recording was worth the cost of the set!
Finally, the sound quality here is as good as you are going to get for Bill's recordings. His sensitivity and tone shine through and the spirit of a live performance is captured. There is electricity in the air. In short, this is a great recording and a "must have" for any Bill Evans fan. The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live which was cut from the same engagement is also excellent.
Bill Evans
The Secret Sessions - 08 cd's
by Scott Yanow
During an 18-year period, fan Mike Harris went to the Village Vanguard whenever pianist Bill Evans appeared and privately taped his performances. More than a decade after Evans' death, Harris made all the proper legal arrangements and producer Orrin Keepnews released music from 26 different occasions on this eight-CD box set, 104 selections in all. With the exception of the first date (and to a lesser extent the last one), the recording quality is surprisingly good, making this a real bonanza for Bill Evans' other fans. The pianist is joined by bassist Eddie Gomez on all of the numbers (except for the first eight, which have Teddy Kotick), along with drummers Arnie Wise, Joe Hunt, Philly Joe Jones, Jack DeJohnette (clearly the most modern of the drummers), John Dentz, Marty Morell and Eliot Zigmund. Since Evans' style did not evolve much during the period, Eddie Gomez's growth as a soloist and the way that the various drummers adapt their styles to Evans' are probably the two main reasons to acquire the set. But Bill Evans fanatics do not have to be told twice about this attractive package's existence.
By Concord
Bill Evans forever changed the way that chords are voiced on the piano, and his frequently telepathic interplay with his sidemen in his trios remains a very influential force long after his 1980 death. Evans recorded frequently during his career, with many classic albums cut for Riverside and Fantasy (all of which have been made available on CD); but none of the music on this remarkable eight-CD set has been released before. Recorded in secret by a devoted fan (Mike Harris) at the Village Vanguard and now put out in this magnificent box with the approval of the Evans estate, these 104 performances feature Bill Evans at his very best, sounding both relaxed and explorative while playing before attentive audiences. With Eddie Gomez or Teddy Kotick on bass and such drummers as Arnie Wise, Joe Hunt, Philly Joe Jones, Jack DeJohnette, John Dentz, Marty Morell, and Eliot Zigmund, Evans is heard on 26 occasions during the 1966-75 period, mixing together fresh versions of familiar songs with some selections that he performed much less often. The recording quality is quite good and the playing is consistently inspired and full of subtle surprises.
Produced by ORRIN KEEPNEWS
By X (USA)
Produced by ORRIN KEEPNEWS
By X (USA)
Bill Evans was a master musician and a wonderful performer, but he had his fair share of personal issues to deal with and, unfortunately, he left the world much too soon. His performances on "The Secret Sessions" are unequivocally my favorite that ever have been released under his name. Ironically, he did not know that someone in the audience was taping him for these sessions. But, amazingly, that provided the perfect context for recording this rather gentle, beautiful spirit, because his "official" albums always sounded too self-conscious. Having these performances taped without his knowledge gives the listener the exact feeling of what it must have been like to hear him play on any given night. And the results are sublime--Bill Evans is such a passionate, soulful, sagacious player and improviser that you will be continually amazed at the decisions he makes on the piano.
Don't worry about the sound quality--it is actually excellent on all of the discs. Buy this to hear and enjoy the REAL Bill Evans.
Don't worry about the sound quality--it is actually excellent on all of the discs. Buy this to hear and enjoy the REAL Bill Evans.
Bill Evans
The Last Waltz: Final Recordings Live - 08 cd's
By Glenn Astarita
Fans of the late great pianist Bill Evans should be overjoyed with the issuance of this nicely packaged eight CD boxed set that represents sixty-five previously unreleased tracks recorded live at San Francisco’s “Keystone Korner”, September, 1980. This attractive compilation is additionally enhanced by Derk Richardson’s wonderfully written and informative liner notes, as the author elaborates on Evans’ previous accomplishments and the sad events leading to the artist’s death which occurred shortly afterwards.
The Last Waltz features Evans along with his then working rhythm section of bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. And other than Evans’ signature renditions of standards such as the radiantly beautiful and sublime, “Emily”, the pianist performs his classic composition, “Waltz for Debby”, along with “Letter To Evan”, “Yet Ne’er Broken” (an anagram for his drug connection) and others. The musicians expand their creative juices while enjoying various levels of emotive interplay during several lengthy versions of Miles Davis’ “Nardis” yet at times, LaBarbera’s extended soloing leaves little to the imagination.
The eight CDs delineate Evans’ nine-day engagement at the “Keystone Corner” and as one would surmise there is some duplication of material throughout these recordings yet the musicians dutifully provide the nuance, finesse and firepower amid a few twists, turns and alterations of the musical scenery. Here, Evans performs with such intensity, grandeur and reverence for the material via flailing crescendos, harmonically rich themes, quick-witted invention, expressively percussive block chords and sinuous single note leads, while the sympathetic rhythm section comps and turns up the heat when called upon. Overall, The Last Waltz strikes a grand chord and resides as one of the more historically significant releases of 2000.
* * * * ½ (Out of * * * * *)
By Concord
The Final Recordings Live at Keystone Korner, September 1980.
The Last Waltz is a profoundly moving valedictory. These eight discs find Evans’s poetic piano—best known for its dark-night-of-the-soul balladry, oft-copied, Impressionist-influenced chord voicings, abiding intelligence, and much-envied touch—infused with a life-force that is palpable, even on the most brooding ballads. The terrible irony, of course, is that though we seldom heard this great artist in more expansive form than is so evident here, Evans (1929-1980) was near death, knew it and, consequently, was exceptionally driven to make every note count. This only adds to the poignancy of these, his final recordings.
The Last Waltz’s 65 previously unreleased performances take in 32 different melodies, most of them standards, as well as nine Evans originals. The sessions stem from eight nights at a one-time San Francisco jazz landmark by the pianist’s last outstanding trio, during what would prove to be the penultimate week of his life. This collection is additionally notable for its repertoire, amounting to a beautifully-charted Evans Retrospective, buoyed and consistently challenged by the young but adept bass-drums team of Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera, who had joined him in 1978 and 1979, respectively. Evans rethinks, reconfigures, and revitalizes many of the touchstone pieces spanning his brilliant career. There are, for example, six different renderings of ex-employer Miles Davis’s “Nardis,” each introduced by a rich, extended fantasy for solo keyboard.
Though many gifted musicians fell under his quiet spell, and many more surely will, Bill Evans is in that tiny circle of the absolutely irreplaceable. The Last Waltz at once points up our grievous loss, while shedding new light on enduring genius.
Contains a 28-page illustrated booklet with essay by Derk Richardson.
Produced by TODD BARKAN
By Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States)
The Last Waltz features Evans along with his then working rhythm section of bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. And other than Evans’ signature renditions of standards such as the radiantly beautiful and sublime, “Emily”, the pianist performs his classic composition, “Waltz for Debby”, along with “Letter To Evan”, “Yet Ne’er Broken” (an anagram for his drug connection) and others. The musicians expand their creative juices while enjoying various levels of emotive interplay during several lengthy versions of Miles Davis’ “Nardis” yet at times, LaBarbera’s extended soloing leaves little to the imagination.
The eight CDs delineate Evans’ nine-day engagement at the “Keystone Corner” and as one would surmise there is some duplication of material throughout these recordings yet the musicians dutifully provide the nuance, finesse and firepower amid a few twists, turns and alterations of the musical scenery. Here, Evans performs with such intensity, grandeur and reverence for the material via flailing crescendos, harmonically rich themes, quick-witted invention, expressively percussive block chords and sinuous single note leads, while the sympathetic rhythm section comps and turns up the heat when called upon. Overall, The Last Waltz strikes a grand chord and resides as one of the more historically significant releases of 2000.
* * * * ½ (Out of * * * * *)
By Concord
The Final Recordings Live at Keystone Korner, September 1980.
The Last Waltz is a profoundly moving valedictory. These eight discs find Evans’s poetic piano—best known for its dark-night-of-the-soul balladry, oft-copied, Impressionist-influenced chord voicings, abiding intelligence, and much-envied touch—infused with a life-force that is palpable, even on the most brooding ballads. The terrible irony, of course, is that though we seldom heard this great artist in more expansive form than is so evident here, Evans (1929-1980) was near death, knew it and, consequently, was exceptionally driven to make every note count. This only adds to the poignancy of these, his final recordings.
The Last Waltz’s 65 previously unreleased performances take in 32 different melodies, most of them standards, as well as nine Evans originals. The sessions stem from eight nights at a one-time San Francisco jazz landmark by the pianist’s last outstanding trio, during what would prove to be the penultimate week of his life. This collection is additionally notable for its repertoire, amounting to a beautifully-charted Evans Retrospective, buoyed and consistently challenged by the young but adept bass-drums team of Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera, who had joined him in 1978 and 1979, respectively. Evans rethinks, reconfigures, and revitalizes many of the touchstone pieces spanning his brilliant career. There are, for example, six different renderings of ex-employer Miles Davis’s “Nardis,” each introduced by a rich, extended fantasy for solo keyboard.
Though many gifted musicians fell under his quiet spell, and many more surely will, Bill Evans is in that tiny circle of the absolutely irreplaceable. The Last Waltz at once points up our grievous loss, while shedding new light on enduring genius.
Contains a 28-page illustrated booklet with essay by Derk Richardson.
Produced by TODD BARKAN
By Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States)
These unapproved releases of an extended club date just days before the pianist's death have an undeniably morbid fascination about them. Anyone who really "hears" Bill Evans hears in every note not merely the rapturous lyricism of jazz' most "romantic" poet but the "tragic" sense of beauty's fragility, the pursuit of the elusive and ephemeral moment that Yeats once referred to as "terrible beauty," sublimity purchased at a high price. "Last Waltz" is a remarkable collection of recordings that document the artist's death-defying act but also make apparent an often overlooked dimension of Evans' musical world--his need to communicate.
The music on this "last will" is best heard as Evans playing every note not as though his life depended on it but as though his listener's experience mattered as much as his own. During this entire last year, when the pianist appeared to regard every playing date as a "last goodbye," he also attacked his music with a pronounced vigor and uninhibited overstatement that suggest he wanted more than ever for his listeners to get the point.
As fascinating as the recordings of the pianist's final year are, they can also be disturbing--discomfiting even to the point of being painful. The recording made of his playing two weeks earlier at Ronnie Scott's in England, especially "Turn Out the Stars," sits somewhere between urgent expression and desperate rhetoric, while the albums made earlier during his final year, especially "The Paris Concert," perhaps come closest to the balance between personal creation and coherent communication that makes Bill Evans' music one of the rarest, most miraculous experiences many of us can lay claim to in a lifetime of listening to music.
"The Last Waltz" strikes this listener as the artist's consolidation of the various aspects of his career, a musical question answered by no small measure of acceptance. "My Foolish Heart" (played in the key of A Major!) recalls the fragile beauty of the first 1961 Vanguard recording; "Days of Wine and Roses" achieves a mid-stream F to A-flat modulation that's equal to the headiest improvisations of mid-career Evans; and the 6 explorations of "Nardis" are nothing if they are not revelatory of the pianist's dark and deeply felt affinities with his aesthetic and blood relatives (Bill was half Russian and loved the language)--Moussourgsky, Shostakovich, Dostoevsky, and above all the Tolstoy who wrote "Death of Ivan Ilytch."
About this collection it's probably safe to say that it's the most extraordinary valedictory recorded in the history of jazz.
The music on this "last will" is best heard as Evans playing every note not as though his life depended on it but as though his listener's experience mattered as much as his own. During this entire last year, when the pianist appeared to regard every playing date as a "last goodbye," he also attacked his music with a pronounced vigor and uninhibited overstatement that suggest he wanted more than ever for his listeners to get the point.
As fascinating as the recordings of the pianist's final year are, they can also be disturbing--discomfiting even to the point of being painful. The recording made of his playing two weeks earlier at Ronnie Scott's in England, especially "Turn Out the Stars," sits somewhere between urgent expression and desperate rhetoric, while the albums made earlier during his final year, especially "The Paris Concert," perhaps come closest to the balance between personal creation and coherent communication that makes Bill Evans' music one of the rarest, most miraculous experiences many of us can lay claim to in a lifetime of listening to music.
"The Last Waltz" strikes this listener as the artist's consolidation of the various aspects of his career, a musical question answered by no small measure of acceptance. "My Foolish Heart" (played in the key of A Major!) recalls the fragile beauty of the first 1961 Vanguard recording; "Days of Wine and Roses" achieves a mid-stream F to A-flat modulation that's equal to the headiest improvisations of mid-career Evans; and the 6 explorations of "Nardis" are nothing if they are not revelatory of the pianist's dark and deeply felt affinities with his aesthetic and blood relatives (Bill was half Russian and loved the language)--Moussourgsky, Shostakovich, Dostoevsky, and above all the Tolstoy who wrote "Death of Ivan Ilytch."
About this collection it's probably safe to say that it's the most extraordinary valedictory recorded in the history of jazz.
Bill Evans
Complete Fantasy Recording - 09 cd's
by Scott Yanow
Bill Evans' Fantasy recordings of 1973-1979 have often been underrated in favor of his earlier work but, as this remarkable nine-CD set continually shows, the influential pianist continued to grow as a musician through the years while holding on to his original conception and distinctive sound. The collection has all of the 98 selections recorded at Evans' 11 Fantasy sessions, including nine numbers from a previously unreleased 1976 concert with his trio. In addition, Evans' appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio program is tacked on as a bonus and it is actually among McPartland's finest shows, a fascinating hour of discussion and music with Evans. Nearly all of the performances on this box (which includes duets with bassist Eddie Gomez and singer Tony Bennett, trio outings with Gomez and either Marty Morell or Eliot Zigmund on drums, and a couple of quintet sets with the likes of tenors Harold Land and Warne Marsh, altoist Lee Konitz, guitarist Kenny Burrell, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Philly Joe Jones) is available individually on CD but Bill Evans' more passionate collectors will certainly want this definitive box. The only minus is Gene Lees' typically self-serving liner notes; he always seems to love to write about himself.
By Fantasy/Concord
Here is the complete body of work recorded by Bill Evans as released by the Fantasy label during the seven-year period closely preceding Evans’s untimely death in 1980.
The set contains 98 selections recorded by the influential jazz pianist between 1973 and 1979 in club, concert, or studio settings, plus a previously unreleased 1976 Paris concert recording. Also included is a fascinating hour-long interview with Evans at the piano, conducted by Marian McPartland and originally broadcast on National Public Radio in 1978.
In these solo, duo, trio, and quintet performances with Tony Bennett, Ray Brown, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Gomez, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Konitz, Harold Land, Warne Marsh, Marty Morell, and Eliot Zigmund, Bill Evans is revealed as a commanding artist at the peak of his powers.
Contains a 32-page illustrated booklet with essay by Gene Lees and notes on the sessions by Helen Keane.
Produced by HELEN KEANE
By twinky@start.com.au (Canberra, Australia)
This set represents all of the recordings made for Fantasy Records from 1973 through until 1979. The recordings are primarily in trio format, with one solo set and two quintet sets. The Bill Evans/Tony Bennett Album is also included in full.
Over this period of time Bill Evans was reportedly drug free and his playing repartiore is greatly enhanced. However, despite new material, Evans failed to grow much musically. The playing is these 9 discs is technically near-perfect with multiple highlights. The music is typically mellow and complex in the style of Evans, with the solo set really showing the depth of Bill Evans as an jazz pianist.
Overall, these recordings are both interesting and enjoyable. The recording quality is consistantly good, even in the live situations. As a bonus, the ninth disc represents a 1979 interview with Marian McPartland. I found this interview to be very information and of great interest. These recordings represent Bill Evans in a transitional stage which eventually led to his more aggressive approach over his last year of performance. This set comes recommended to both Evans fanatics and general jazz listeners.
Over this period of time Bill Evans was reportedly drug free and his playing repartiore is greatly enhanced. However, despite new material, Evans failed to grow much musically. The playing is these 9 discs is technically near-perfect with multiple highlights. The music is typically mellow and complex in the style of Evans, with the solo set really showing the depth of Bill Evans as an jazz pianist.
Overall, these recordings are both interesting and enjoyable. The recording quality is consistantly good, even in the live situations. As a bonus, the ninth disc represents a 1979 interview with Marian McPartland. I found this interview to be very information and of great interest. These recordings represent Bill Evans in a transitional stage which eventually led to his more aggressive approach over his last year of performance. This set comes recommended to both Evans fanatics and general jazz listeners.
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