Tribute Recordings on Bill Evans - Part Six

Luca Lapenna
Words For Evans



by Mr. Claudio Botelho
You’re right: this is one more homage to the great Bill Evans! There you have it: “My Bells”; “Turn out the Stars”; “Peri’s Scope”; “Only Child”; “One for Helen”; “The two Lonely People”; “Very Early”; “Time Remembered”; “Waltz for Debby”; “Another Time, Another Place” and a song named “Ending” which ends the recording.
Four of the Evans songs received lyrics from Lapenna himself (Peri’s Scope; Only a Child; One for Helen and Time Remembered), two others were penned by the bass player of the group (Another time, Another Place) and the remaining (Ending) was composed by Lapenna and his piano player.
Lapenna made it at the end of 1995, entering January of 1996. You’re wrong: this work is really from the middle nineties! There isn’t any misprint here!
- Hey, Claudio, we’re in 2011, come on! Don’t you think you’re a little late?
- No, I’m not: good music; honesty; sincere praise; sensible renderings; shivering emotions are atemporal subjects!
- Oh, man, there are some hundreds of homages like this…
- No, my friend, not LIKE this!
- Why not?
- ‘Cause you can feel all throughout the performances a deep emotional charge, a comprehensive understanding of that composer’s soul, a profound respect for the mood of each song; all this without any abdication of the jazz language, as we come to know and admire…
- Really?
- You bet, man, you bet! Lapenna’s diminutive voice, backed by some equally inspired musicians, did his best by overcoming his low register limitations, sometimes on the verge of ruining a song, other times trembling with emotion! The sparsely presentations give the listener a chance to enjoy everything: from his smallest intonations, to every music inflexions of his cohorts which, as a whole, merged in a unity of sublime identification with the soul of that composer…
- You’re kidding me, they aren’t even Americans!...
- You’re right: they are not, but they sported a deep admiration for Mr. Evans and their music spoke clearly of this. You can see this through the muted trumpet, across the delicate fingered piano or the work of the attentive bass and drums players.
- Wow!
- Yes, Wow! Thanks Luca Lapenna; thanks Paolo Fresu (tr. & fl); thanks Alberto Tacchini (p); Thanks Atillo Zanchi (b) and thanks Giampero Prina (d). Many thanks.
- So, let´s turn out the stars?
- We may try…


Luigi Ruberti

Dedicated To Bill Evans

by Marco Caiano
“Dedicated to Bill Evans” è il titolo del nuovo album del compositore napoletano Luigi Ruberti. L’album è stato presentato all’interno del salone della libreria “La Feltrinelli”, si tratta di un omaggiao alla musica jazz del grande pianista americano Bill Evans. Con la partecipazione di Luigi Ruberti al contrabbasso, Pietro Santangelo al sax soprano, Francesco Marziani al pianoforte e Giuseppe la Pusata alla batteria, vengono riproposti i singoli di un grande del Jazz che, con la sua musica, ha accompagnato Ruberti nella crescita musicale. Musicista e didatta si avvicina alla musica giovanissimo iniziando al Conservatorio di Napoli. Il suo amore per il Jazz non lo limita e così si dedica ad altri generi senza però dimenticare mai la sua grande passione. Una carriera lunga venticinque anni nel corso della quale lavora a diversi progetti di sua composizione fino alla realizzazione del primo album nel 2005 con “Mosaico” e poi nel 2007 con “Sud a Levante”. Riproporre in “Dedicated to Bill Evans” delle grandi musiche del pianista newyorkese, è il raggiungimento di una maturità, uscendo da schemi che ricordano i soliti sottofondi musicali.


Don Friedman Trio
Waltz For Debby



by Ken Dryden
This trio date led by Don Friedman is comparable to a typical Bill Evans session in several ways. Joined by bassist George Mraz and drummer Lewis Nash, one hears three strong musicians interacting rather than a rhythm section playing follow-the-leader with the pianist. Secondly, Friedman, like Evans, loves playing great melodies. Finally, Friedman is a gifted composer, though his pieces are obviously not as well known as Evans' works. But the comparison ends there, as Friedman has a distinctive style of his own. The title track is obviously Evans' best-known composition, though Friedman's interpretation of it is more aggressive and features a melodic solo by Mraz as well. Friedman's lyrical side is readily apparent in his warm rendition of Michel Legrand's bittersweet ballad "You Must Believe in Spring." The pianist is at his most adventurous skirting around the theme to Johnny Mandel's lovely "The Shadow of Your Smile," propelled by Mraz's phenomenal bassline until Nash is added and the setting of the piece is modified into a brisk samba. His originals merit attention as well. "35 W. 4th St." is a catchy post-bop theme, while the furiously paced "Blues in a Hurry" seems to catch the hustle and bustle of New York City. It's not surprising to learn that Friedman composed "Flamands" as a result of visiting the West Indies. Mraz takes the lead and has a prominent role throughout this infectious piece. "From A to Z" salutes his good friend, the late guitarist Attila Zoller, and includes an excellent drum solo by Nash. Friedman's closer is a breathtaking solo of Willard Robison's sentimental ballad "Old Folks." This intimately recorded studio session is an obvious keeper.


 David Hazeltine Trio
Waltz For Debby



by Ken Dryden
David Hazeltine is one of New York City's busiest jazz pianists and he has also attracted attention overseas, having recorded for a number of European and Japanese labels in addition to this work in the U.S. Producer Tetsuo Hara became particularly enamored with Hazeltine and has recorded him on a regular basis for his Venus label; this outing is a tribute to the great pianist/composer Bill Evans, recorded in late 1998. It's a challenge to play Evans' compositions without a certain degree of his influence in a piano trio setting, but that doesn't really matter, as the three musicians keep the music fresh, even if there is nothing innovative about their approach. Vetran bassist George Mraz is a veteran of many sessions as a sideman for Venus, and drummer Billy Drummond is also a first-call player, while both fit the mold of musicians who would have complemented Evans himself. Hazeltine never attempts to outright copy Evans' playing style, beginning with a breezy "Waltz for Debby" that percolates with energy. Ballads are always an acid test for jazz musicians, and Hazeltine's treatment of the bittersweet "Time Remembered" brings out the lyricism of this beautiful work. Mraz is showcased in good light in the challenging "Funkallero." Hazeltine has one solo feature, the intricate original "Bill at Peace," in which the late pianist's influence is readily apparent. The audio throughout this enjoyable session is superb, giving the listener the feeling of sitting a few feet away from the trio in the studio.


 Danilo Perez
Across The Crystal Sea



by Doug Collette
Track Listing: 
Across the Crystal Sea; Rays and Shadows; Lazy Afternoon; The Purple Condor; If I Forget You; (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings; The Saga of Rita Joe; Another Autumn. Personnel: 
Personnel: 
Danilo Perez: piano; Cassandra Wilson: vocals (3, 6); Christian McBride: bass; Lewis Nash: drums; Luis Quintero: percussion; Claus Ogerman: conductor, orchestra arranger.
During the course of their collaboration on Across the Crystal Sea, pianist Danilo Perez and arranger Claus German defy convention as much as they utilize it to their own ends. Like the colors in the cover painting at first seem like pastels, but upon close inspection reveal deeper tones, the contrast of the orchestration with a jazz ensemble led by the veteran pianist is symbiotic yet rife with surprise.
To merely describe this album as a trio plus strings will no doubt generate more than a little trepidation, even when mentioning the themes upon which the compositions are based come from classical composers. The fact is the two units involved on the project, though recorded separately, unite as one in the Tommy LiPuma-produced (and Al Schmitt-engineered) CD.
The appearance of vocalist Cassandra Wilson on two tracks, while not truly the highlight of the album, is fully integrated into the mood as well. Defining "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings" as a middle- of-the-road treacle is a simplistic interpretation of the concept this album might suggest, but a sensual quality eventually arises from the performance. "Lazy Afternoon" finds Wilson's voice likewise utilized as an instrument, so that it's notable the only clearly enunciated lyric she sings is the title phrase; elsewhere the rich presence of her voice appears to arise from the listener's heart, then goes into the head.
The perfectly languorous mood created in that cut is the first gentle crescendo that appears on the disc. Perez, currently a stalwart of Wayne Shorter's group and the trio including Lewis Nash on drums and Christian McBride on bass, play with perfect poise around which Ogerman's string arrangements wave and waft in similar slow motion. There's more than one echo of Jobim on the title song. Not because of the presence of percussionist Luis Quintero, but because the orchestration sways tenderly, in synchronous time with the small combo.
The sparse precise sound of piano, bass and drums is a perfect counterpoint and complement to the orchestra on pieces inspired by Massenet ("The Saga of Rita Joe"), Rachmaninoff ("If I Forget You") and Sibelius ("Rays and Shadows"). The noir atmosphere of a jazz club near closing time, intermingles with a tropical air as lush waves of strings thin and thicken in reciprocal rhythm.
There's little sense of any tension building whatsoever during the course of the eight tracks until "Another Autumn" seems to float to a close...only to reappear in a bright denouement that is the antithesis of the melancholy, usually associated with the fall season in all its metaphorical meaning. Thus, Across the Crystal Sea becomes both circular and cyclical, a rather remarkable piece of work created by two artists with their own distinct musical visions who find those traits they share to formulate a concept that is wholly unique on its own terms.


David Benoit
Letter To Evan



by Scott Yanow
David Benoit had a slight departure with this 1992 release, performing two previously unheard Bill Evans compositions ("Letter to Evan" and "Knit for Mary F."), Dave Brubeck's "Kathy's Waltz" and a mixture of standards and originals. Most of the tunes are played with small groups (duets to quartets) and such fine players as bassist John Patitucci, drummer Peter Erskine and guitarists Larry Carlton and Peter Sprague make strong contributions. The melodic and mostly straight-ahead music is pleasing, pretty and sometimes swinging, if not all particularly innovative. Worth checking out by jazz listeners.


Kenny Drew Jr.
Solo - This One's For Bill



By Flibbert J. Goosty
It is not difficult to measure how much influence the late Bill Evans has exerted over the young pianists of today. The impact of his playing can be heard, in varying degrees, in virtually every pianist that followed him. That's because he changed the way piano players approach the instrument, moving away from a strict bebop vocabulary, and bringing to fore the piano's inherent orchestral abilities through dense harmonies and sweeping melodic lines. Evans employed an introspective approach, gracefully caressing the keyboard with an uncommon subtlety not found in the bop pianists of the fifties. He used chord voicings that were at times ambiguous; he left it up to the to bassist to define the tonic. Evans' level of concentration at the keyboard could be mesmerizing. He would often be in a trance-like state as he allowed the piano to consume both his mind and his body. And although Bill Evans will be sorely missed, his spirit and his influence will be felt for decades to come, thanks in part to Kenny Drew Jr., a gifted and sensitive young pianist who has released this wonderful CD on the TCB Label, entitled This One's For Bill.
No stranger to jazz fans, Kenny Drew Jr. has released a dozen CD's under his own name, and is on countless others as a sideman. Well versed in the classical repertoire, Kenny has immense technique on his instrument, yet there is also a sensitivity and beauty that he exudes in his music. Kenny is quite capable of introspection and contemplation; it is for this very reason that this solo piano outing is so successful. Only in the hands of a master, can the orchestral capabilities of this instrument be fully realized. In this most intimate setting, Kenny clearly orchestrates for his instrument, embellishing each measure of each tune, with an wide array of tonal hues. And if a carefully built phrase, sweeping arpeggio, or mellow cascade of chords puts you in mind of Bill Evans, it's not necessarily your imagination.
Aside from the title cut, which is Kenny's personal tribute to the late Evans, the set of songs on this disc were either penned by Evans, or closely associated with him. Included is a beautiful rendition of "Nardis," a tune Bill played for many years. Although the actual composer of this song has been the subject of much controversy, the piece, with it's exotic melody line and quiet chords, has Bill Evans written all over it. Other highlights from the disc are the song "Suicide Is Painless"(which many will remember as the theme-song from the T.V. show M.A.S.H. ), and a crisp offering of Henry Mancini's "The Day Of Wine And Roses." This latest effort by Kenny Drew is a consistently rewarding CD to listen to, further documenting his continuous growth as a player, and serving to fortify his position as one of the premiere jazz pianists of the 21 century.

Turn Out The Stars:The Final Village Vanguard Recordings June 1980

By Doug Collette
The extent to which Bill Evans' studio and live recordings have been recorded, archived and released is a testament to the deserved reverence the late pianist has elicited. Originally available only in a limited run, Turn Out the Stars-The Final Village Vanguard Recordings June 1980 is further evidence of that devout respect.
Far more lavish (and sturdy despite the individual digipaks inside)) than the accompanying box, the essays written by Bob Blumenthal and Harold Danko are extensive in their detail and focused passion, as good a means of describing The Evans trio's own playing as there is. On “Re: The Person I knew,” there is no melodramatic lingering on the sweet melody, as if to telegraph its beauty rather a constant turn through its changes. If slowly rotating a fine jewel is the best way to appreciate its true beauty by viewing as many facets as possible--no one angle fully serves the purpose--so, too, is Evans and his trio's approach to a composition's melody and rhythm.
As with Evans' classic trio featuring drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro, the personnel at the time of these recordings--bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera--does its share to make descriptions about telepathic instrumental communication the cliché it is today. Hearing them interact on both renditions of “The Two Lonely People,” there is a sense of learning the contours of the composition a little better each time, as much as an increase in familiarity between the musicians. The former lesson is a means to the latter knowledge.
Describing musicians' interplay as conversation or dialogue is a clich&233; of sorts too, but in the case of Evans' trio it is perfectly appropriate throughout Turn Out the Stars. Each player makes his instrument take on characteristics of the other two. Johnson, for example, has as elegant a touch as Evans on “Nardis,” from the June 8 second set. Similarly the threesome shares the feel for each others' styles. LaBarbera moves with the same fleetness as Johnson, without any sense of hurry on “Time Remembered” from the June 6 second set
The breaks in the leader's playing on “Days of Wine and Roses,” from the June 5 second set, allow comments from his band mates on the preceding interval, sometimes constituting reiteration but more often representing extensions of thoughts just expressed. Each musician is confident enough in his own playing and that of his peers that he can afford to pause and reflect, if only for a split second, on what's just been played, to effectively process what he's just heard.
Given the stellar and staunch presence of Helen Keane and the Village Vanguard venue itself, it stands to reason that the recording here is as immaculate as the playing. The music contained in the six CDs of Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings June 1980 demands to be preserved for posterity in exactly this splendid fashion.

By Nonesuch Records
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

Track Listing:

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.
Personnel: Bill Evans: piano; Marc Johnson: bass; Joe LaBarbera: drums.
Nonesuch Records - Reissue