Bill Evans The Solo Sessions

Bill Evans - The Solo Sessions, Volume 2 (1963) {Milestone MCD-9195-2 rel 1992}
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© 1963, 1989 Milestone Records / Fantasy | MCD-9195-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

This CD's booklet liner notes written by Gene Lees tell as much – if not more – of the story about the circumstances surrounding this session as the music itself. Though in retrospect Lees hears added value in these solo piano works from Bill Evans, there is a palpable and recognizable deterioration in the great pianist's ability to perform at his optimal genius level. In trouble with heroin addiction during 1963 when these tracks were documented, Evans both struggles and prevails through his drug-induced haze to produce an effort that is at many times expectedly brilliant – the prerequisite and operative word being effort.

Bill Evans - The Solo Sessions, Volume 1 (1963) {Milestone MCD-9170-2 rel 1989}
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© 1963, 1989 Milestone Records / Fantasy | MCD-9170-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

In need of money and wanting to quickly fulfill his contractual obligations to Riverside, Bill Evans recorded two albums worth of solos in one day. The emotional and rather stark music was not initially released until the late '80s although it is now available on a pair of CDs. Due to the lack of much mood or tempo variation, this particular set is recommended mostly for Evans completists and longtime fans. There are two medleys (the pianist was playing one tune after another and a few songs overlapped) and every number would be recorded by Evans (generally in trio formats) at other times.

Portrait In Jazz (1960). The first of two studio albums by the Bill Evans-Scott LaFaro-Paul Motian trio (both of which preceded their famous engagement at the Village Vanguard), this Portrait in Jazz reissue contains some wondrous interplay, particularly between pianist Evans and bassist LaFaro, on the two versions of "Autumn Leaves." Other than introducing Evans' "Peri's Scope," the music is comprised of standards, but the influential interpretations were far from routine or predictable at the time. LaFaro and Motian were nearly equal partners with the pianist in the ensembles and their versions of such tunes as "Come Rain or Come Shine," "When I Fall in Love," and "Someday My Prince Will Come" (which preceded Miles Davis' famous recording by a couple years) are full of subtle and surprising creativity. A gem…

Bill Evans - The Complete Bill Evans On Verve (1997) {18 CD Set Verve 314 527 953-2 rec 1962-1969}
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© 1962-69, 1997 Verve / PolyGram | 314 527 953-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE is an 18-disc, 269-track box set featuring every track that Bill Evans recorded for Verve between 1962 and 1969, including 98 previously-unreleased tracks. It includes a 160-page, full-color book. THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package - Boxed and for Best Historical Album. The 18 CDs in this exhaustive set provide a comprehensive picture of Bill Evans from 1962 to 1969, a period when the pianist was both consolidating his fame and sometimes taking his music into untested waters, from unaccompanied piano to symphony orchestra. His work with multitracked solo piano, originally released as Conversations with Myself and the later Further Conversations with Myself, was the most remarkable new format for his introspective music. It gave Evans a way to be all the pianists he could be at once–combining densely chordal, harmonically oblique parts with surprising, rhythmic punctuation and darting, exploratory runs.

Bill Evans - The Complete Riverside Recordings (1987) {12CD Set Riverside-Fantasy 12RCD 018-2 rec 1956-1963}
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© 1956-63, 1987 Riverside Records / Fantasy | 12RCD 018-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

This magnificent 12-CD set contains all of Bill Evans' Riverside recordings as a leader, an extremely important period in the influential pianist's development. The first session predates Evans' period with the Miles Davis Sextet and other significant sessions include his sets with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian (highlighted by the marathon Village Vanguard session of June 25, 1961), Evans' return nearly a year after LaFaro's death in a car accident with a new trio (consisting of Motian and bassist Chuck Israels), a sideman set with altoist Cannonball Adderley, the Interplay sessions with either trumpeter Freddie Hubbard or tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, an extensive and rather somber solo set, and a 1963 appearance at Shelly's Manne Hole with bassist Israels and drummer Larry Bunker.

Bill Evans - The Complete Fantasy Recordings (1989) {9CD BoxSet Fantasy FCD-1012-2 rec 1973-1979}
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© 1973-79, 1989 Fantasy / ZYX Music | FCD-1012-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

Bill Evans' Fantasy recordings of 1973-1979 have often been underrated in favor of his earlier work but, as this remarkable nine-CD set continually shows, the influential pianist continued to grow as a musician through the years while holding on to his original conception and distinctive sound. The collection has all of the 98 selections recorded at Evans' 11 Fantasy sessions, including nine numbers from a previously unreleased 1976 concert with his trio. In addition, Evans' appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio program is tacked on as a bonus and it is actually among McPartland's finest shows, a fascinating hour of discussion and music with Evans.

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans (pronunciation: /ˈɛvəns/, August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980), was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly worked in a trio setting. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, and is considered by some to have been the most influential post-World War II jazz pianist. Evans's use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today. Unlike many other jazz musicians of his time, Evans never embraced new movements like jazz fusion or free jazz.