Bill Evans - Alone (1968)

Entirely solo date from late 1968, most likely released in early 1970, with Bill Evans' piano genius laid bare on a set of five standards.  After a solo track here and there on previous albums, and a pair of records featuring overdubbed pianos, this was his first full-length with no backing at all.  Alone works well in Evans letting himself stretch out, not least on the fourteen-minute Never Let Me Go that took up all of the original second side.  This expanded reissue includes 40 minutes of additional music: two unreleased numbers and alternate takes of the full album, for maximum immersion in Evans Alone.

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pw: sgtg

Bill Evans at SGTG:

East Coasting
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
The Blues And The Abstract Truth

Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Waltz For Debby
Undercurrent
I Will Say Goodbye

Charles Mingus - East Coasting (1957)

Early Mingus with a small but perfectly-chosen group, and five top-notch compositions by the man himself topped off with a rendition of Memories Of You.  East Coasting is a gorgeous, accessible album, not least with Bill Evans behind the keys, and the mellow moments of this record are particularly enjoyable - the lengthy take of Celia is probably my highlight.  There are moments that cook and swing too, in the lengthy quick-slow arrangement of West Coast Ghost and the breezy title track.  Defintely deserves to be as celebrated as the better-known, major label entries in Mingus' catalogue.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Jazz Portraits: Mingus In Wonderland 
Oh Yeah

Tijuana Moods
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady  
Mingus Plays Piano  
Let My Children Hear Music

Mingus Moves
Changes One & Two
Cumbia & Jazz Fusion
plus:  

The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall
Blue Moods  
Money Jungle  
BBC Proms Tribute by Metropole Orkest

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961)

Had this, one of the greatest piano trio recordings ever made, on heavy rotation these past weeks, and realised I hadn't posted it yet.  Two albums were assembled from Bill Evans Trio live recordings at NYC's Village Vanguard on 25 June 1961 - the other one was Waltz For Debby (see links list below).

Both can be slightly spooky records to listen to, with the knowledge that the 25-year old bassist was playing his final Bill Evans Trio show before a fatal car accident two weeks later.  Sunday At The Village Vanguard was thus arranged as a tribute to Scott LaFaro, bookended by two of his compositions, and highlighting his brilliant playing throughout.  As we just had Weather Report's debut album last week, here's Miroslav Vitouš describing how the 'bass as equal-stature instrument' sound of Sunday At The Village Vanguard influenced him in the setup of early Weather Report.  Bill Evans is naturally on top form throughout as a harmonic and melodic master, and Paul Motian is the backbone of this top-tier, close-knit trio.

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pw: sgtg

Bill Evans at SGTG:
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
The Blues And The Abstract Truth
Waltz For Debby
Undercurrent
I Will Say Goodbye

Bill Evans Trio - I Will Say Goodbye (rec. 1977, rel. 1980)

Posting Julia Hülsmann last week made me dive back into Bill Evans, and came up with a fresh appreciation of this album from Evans' final years.  Recorded in May 1977 with his latest trio of Eddie Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums, I Will Say Goodbye wasn't released until 1980, when it became Evans' last album for the Fantasy label (he'd just signed to Warners).

The Michel Legrand-penned title track, performed twice on the album, would of course take on an added poignancy following Evans' death in September 1980, and it's a nice melancholy track to base this album around.  There are some great uptempo moments here, especially a fine take on Herbie Hancock's Dolphin Dance and sole original The Opener.  For the most part, though, the tight group improvisation of Evans' final trio shines best in their restrained moments, finishing on a gorgeous bit of Bacharach in A House Is Not A Home.

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Bill Evans Trio - Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1959)

Bill Evans' second album as leader proved that he was a major emerging talent in the world of jazz piano, and came highly recommended in its testimonial-style cover.  It remains one of his most popular records, sounding crisp, clear and for the most part meditative and restrained.  It's also an important precursor in the chemical chain reaction of 50s modal jazz that led to Kind Of Blue four months later.

The opening Minority is one of the few uptempo tracks, with Joneses Sam and Philly Joe a cracking rhythm section (see also the jittering Night And Day, and a great run at Sonny Rollins' Oleo).  They're barely there in the second track though, a gorgeous Young And Foolish, and Lucky To Be Me is the first instance of Evans playing solo on the album.  The stark ending to that track gets even more minimal in Peace Piece, where Evans picks out a modal melody line from near nothingness in chordal terms.  This stunning highlight was originally based on the Leonard Bernstein showtune Some Other Time, which is included here as a bonus track.

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Previously posted at SGTG: Waltz For Debby / Undercurrent

Bill Evans & Jim Hall - Undercurrent (1962)

Simply one of the greatest and loveliest jazz duo albums of all time.  Some would say that sentence doesn't even need the "duo".  Either way, six great tracks from two absolute masters of jazz piano and jazz guitar are here to enrich your weekend.  After a cooking take on My Funny Valentine opens the album, the overriding pace is relaxed and intimate, and the interaction between pianist and guitarist is effortlessly sublime throughout.

What would my absolute favourites be... I Hear A Rhapsody? Skating In Central Park?  Just going to go for 'all of them' as it's impossible to pick.  Was going to snip out the bonus tracks as I generally tend to do, then decided against it as they enrich the album even further (as well as almost doubling its slight running time).  Essential listening, especially for rainy days and long nights - plenty of those round here now.

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Bill Evans Trio - Waltz For Debby (rec. 1961, rel. 1962)

I'm not necessarily going to make "jazz piano Friday" a regular feature of this blog - far too many sonic extremities still to come for that!  But for now, for the second Friday in a row, here's one of the greatest piano trios of all time in a career-best, that would come to a tragic end only days after recording.

Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident at just 25 robbed the jazz world of one of its most promising young bass players, and this album was the second live album to be drawn from these final recordings of the trio, after the more simply descriptive Sunday At The Village Vanguard (released five months previous).  Waltz For Debby has the slight edge for me - not least because of the title track, one of Evans' most beautiful original tunes ever, named for his niece.

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Oliver Nelson - The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961)

Simply one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.  More details needed?  Have a look at the all-star cast on the cover.  Still not convinced?  Download and enjoy. Six perfectly composed instant classics, with wonderfully harmonized main melodies each giving way to a round of solo spotlights, either in blues measure or near enough, and a sumptuous, reverb-bathed production.

The Blues And The Abstract Truth has always been a November album for me, ever since checking it out of the library at university, popping it in my Discman and walking through the darkening, windswept and rainy streets of Edinburgh listening to Stolen Moments for the first time.  Kind Of Blue, Blue Train et al became part of my life around that same month, but this album has stayed with me more consistently than any other from the 50s-early 60s canon.

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