Bill Evans: Blue in Green

With the passage of time, Bill Evans has become an entire school unto himself for pianists and a singular mood unto himself for listeners. There is no more influential jazz-oriented pianist only McCoy Tyner exerts nearly as much pull among younger players and journeymen and Evans has left his mark on such noted players as Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau. Borrowing heavily from the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, Evans brought a new, introverted, relaxed, lyrical, European classical sensibility into jazz and that seems to have attracted a lot of young conservatory-trained pianists who follow his chord voicings to the letter in clubs and on stages everywhere.

Bill Evans Trio - Live in Ottawa 1974 (2007) {Gambit Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | IMG, FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 373 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb | No Artwork
© 2007 Gambit Records | 69271
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

This Canadian concert was performed shortly before drummer Marty Morell’s departure, and therefore, boasted a well-rehearsed unit. Before Eliot Zigmund’s arrival, Evans would make a duo album with Eddie Gomez entitled Intuition. The concert issued here was one of two performances recorded during that engagement, although not a single tune was played twice. The other concert has been issued on CD under the title of Blue in Green. Our concert, taken from a radio broadcast, has been long unavailable and appears here on CD for the first time ever. As a bonus to this rare concert, we have added the soundtrack from a TV show featuring the same Bill Evans trio, recorded in New York on September 17, 1972.

Bill Evans Trio - Portrait In Jazz (1959) {2008 Riverside} [Keepnews Collection Complete Series] (Item #26of27)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 313 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 305 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remastering
© 1959, 2008 Concord / Riverside | 0888072306783
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

Orrin Keepnews' commentary (from his new liner notes): “This turned out to be the easiest Bill Evans record session I was ever involved in. The trio's initial working repertoire consisted entirely of material that he wanted to record but had not yet attempted; I probably would have preferred having more than two originals, having not yet fully realized that his ability to reconstruct and revitalize old and often over-familiar standards was one of his more important contributions to the jazz vocabulary.”

This three-CD box set from Not Now features remastered editions of three important Evans albums originally released by Riverside in the mid- to late ‘50s: 1956’s New Jazz Conceptions (Evans’ debut as a leader, featuring Teddy Kotick on bass and Paul Motian on drums), 1958’s Everybody Digs Bill Evans (recorded upon the pianist's departure from Davis’ landmark Kind of Blue sextet, and featuring bassist Sam Jones and drummer Philly Joe Jones), and 1959’s Portrait in Jazz (featuring his first working trio, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Motian). If introspection became a byword during the latter part of his life, in earlier days Bill Evans did swing with the best of them, his more thoughtful moments carrying much weight as his choice of note/chord and placement thereof became crucial to a composition or solo. He also passed master as an accompanist, not only for what he did play but - almost as importantly - what he didn't.