Serenity
Bill Evans envisioned a piano trio in which the bassist and drummer wouldn’t be accompanists but equal participants. Further, without any attempts at obvious fusion, he melded elements of late 19th- and early 20th-century classical music into his approach, along with a quiet but powerful lyrical quality still based in jazz. SERENITY captures a live Evans radio broadcast with his regular bandmates from the early and mid-‘70s--Eddie Gomez (bass) and Marty Morell (drums)--performing Evans's best-loved favorites such as "Re: Person I Knew" and "Waltz For Debby."
The Bill Evans Trio
Bill Evans envisioned a piano trio in which the bassist and drummer wouldn’t be accompanists but equal participants. Further, without any attempts at obvious fusion, he melded elements of late 19th- and early 20th-century classical music into his approach, along with a quiet but powerful lyrical quality still based in jazz. SERENITY captures a live Evans radio broadcast with his regular bandmates from the early and mid-‘70s--Eddie Gomez (bass) and Marty Morell (drums)--performing Evans's best-loved favorites such as "Re: Person I Knew" and "Waltz For Debby."
The Bill Evans Trio
Quiet Now
By Stewart Mason
An aptly titled album from the Bill Evans Trio, Quiet Now is the jazz pianist at his most ambient and cerebral. Accompanied only by the minimalist rhythm section of bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, Evans effortlessly deconstructs two pop standards, Harold Arlen's "Sleeping Bee" and his beloved "Autumn Leaves," a Johnny Mercer tune that he played seemingly hundreds of times, along with three of his own compositions and Miles Davis' "Nardis," a song Evans made his own through endless reintepretation over the course of many years. Morrel is a steady, unobtrusive drummer with a light touch and, happily, not much of a tendency to show off and even less to solo. Gomez, the bassist Evans worked with the longest in his career, knows how to anticipate his boss' every move, no matter how seemingly random, and his solo spots are those rarities, economical and well-constructed bass solos that are actually fun to listen to. Quiet Now is a bit too workmanlike to be one of the greatest Bill Evans Trio releases -- it's more solidly competent than divinely inspired, but Evans' playing, as always, is marvelous.
By Stewart Mason
An aptly titled album from the Bill Evans Trio, Quiet Now is the jazz pianist at his most ambient and cerebral. Accompanied only by the minimalist rhythm section of bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, Evans effortlessly deconstructs two pop standards, Harold Arlen's "Sleeping Bee" and his beloved "Autumn Leaves," a Johnny Mercer tune that he played seemingly hundreds of times, along with three of his own compositions and Miles Davis' "Nardis," a song Evans made his own through endless reintepretation over the course of many years. Morrel is a steady, unobtrusive drummer with a light touch and, happily, not much of a tendency to show off and even less to solo. Gomez, the bassist Evans worked with the longest in his career, knows how to anticipate his boss' every move, no matter how seemingly random, and his solo spots are those rarities, economical and well-constructed bass solos that are actually fun to listen to. Quiet Now is a bit too workmanlike to be one of the greatest Bill Evans Trio releases -- it's more solidly competent than divinely inspired, but Evans' playing, as always, is marvelous.
