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Bill Evans: The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961
by AAJ Staff
The consummate pianist's pianist, if you had to pick only one from the history of jazz, would have to be Bill Evans. Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson certainly have their thing, but their style is more elaborate technique than raw invention, and its very baroque nature tends to obscure its message. Evans, on the other hand, was cool and direct, with the cleanest harmony, the greatest intimacy, and the most stunning interactive improvisation. All these superlatives merely serve to emphasize ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans Trio: Sunday At The Village Vanguard & Waltz for Debby
by C. Michael Bailey
To look at Bill Evans in the 1950s and '60s, one might think that he was the most unlikely looking jazz titan to ever depress a piano key. Thin and bespectacled with a dweeb's haircut, Evan's was the picture of a bookish intellectual. He was well versed in the European Impressionism of Les Six and Debussy, deftly folding that introspection into performances of the American Musical Canon, as well as his own classic compositions. Serious about his craft, doubtful of ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Kind of Blue
by Jim Santella
Columbia's latest release of this essential album includes the original liner notes by Bill Evans, a new liner note essay by Robert Palmer, a bonus track alternate take of “Flamenco Sketches," a 25-minute documentary DVD on Kind of Blue, and the original music itself. It sounds as good today as it did 46 years ago. In the words of television journalist and jazz devotee Ed Bradley, “It's as strong today as it was for me in ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: California Here I Come
by Ollie Bivens
Most piano-led jazz trios consist of a bassist and drummer providing rhythmic backing for the leader. With the various trios fronted by Bill Evans, a three way musical conversation occurred among equals. Recorded in '67 and initially issued as a two-LP set in '82, and now reissued on a single CD of 71 minutes, California Here I Come is an example of that dialogue. Not nearly as influential as his groundbreaking early '60s trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: The Best Of Bill Evans
by Mark Sabbatini
How does one rate good execution of a flawed concept?The Best Of Bill Evans is the latest in an abundant number of compilations claiming to capture the piano legend's finest work in a disc or two. Such albums almost never capture the range of any landmark performer, especially since most play on multiple labels and much of their material is unavailable for single-label compilations such as this.Also, anyone looking for one Evans album arguably is better ...
Continue ReadingThree From Rhapsody Films featuring Bill Evans and Jim Hall
by John Kelman
With praise coming from sources as diverse as Dan Morgenstern, Clint Eastwood and Richard Pena, Bruce Rickert's Rhapsody Films is rapidly making a name for itself as an imprint devoted to reissuing some of the more important archival jazz, blues and world music releases, originally only available on video, on DVD format. While some of their titles are currently still only available in VHS, it's but a matter of time before they've digitized their entire collection, and that's good news ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: 1929-1980
by AAJ Staff
Who Was Bill Evans? Bill Evans, one of the most influential and tragic figures of the post-bop jazz piano, was known for his highly nuanced touch, the clarity of the feeling content of his music and his reform of the chord voicing system pianists used. He recorded over fifty albums as leader and received five Grammy awards. He spawned a school of “Bill Evans style" or “Evans inspired" pianists, who include some of the best known artists of our day, ...
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