Backgrounder: Bill Evans - 'Solo Sessions, Vol. 1'

In January 1963, producer Orrin Keepnews brought Bill Evans into the studio to record solo. It's unclear whether Orrin did this to bank away Evans tapes prior to him signing with Verve or whether this was done because Evans needed cash and Keepnews decided to record him early in order to advance him payment. Either way, the material wasn't released until 1984, when the tracks were included in Bill Evans: The Complete Riverside Recordings in 1984 and, again in 1989, when the stand-alone solo sessions were released in two parts on Milestone, co-founded by Orrin and Dick Katz.

Evans's first solo album was New Jazz Conceptions in 1956. There also were four solo tracks on Everybody Digs Bill Evans in 1958 and a solo version of Tadd's Delight on Tony Scott's I'll Remember in 1959 that was unissued. After the Keepnews solo sessions, his Riverside partner, Bill Grauer, suffered a heart attack in December 1963, and the label folded in July 1964. With Riverside already on the skids in 1963, Evans had signed with Creed Taylor's Verve label at the top of the year and in February recorded Conversations With Myself, featuring Evans playing three overdubbed solo tracks.

Here's the complete Bill Evans Solo Sessions, Vol. 1, without ad interruptions...