The Shelly Manne Trio Goodbye For Bill Evans (1981 2020)

Bill Evans refused producer Orrin Keepnews' invitation to record a follow up album to his 1956 debut "New Jazz Conceptions" for over two years, stating that he had nothing new to say. He joined the Miles Davis quintet, participating in "Kind Of Blue", and took his time to plan his re-emergence as a leader in his own right. "Everyone Digs Bill Evans" marked that return in 1958 but it was "Portrait In Jazz", released a year later, that claimed his place at the forefront of jazz.

Originally released in 1971, Trio Live is a concert album featuring pianist Bill Evans and his trio performing at the Trident Club in Sausalito, California in 1964. Backing Evans at this time were bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker. This is laid-back date that finds Evans delving into a handful of jazz standards including such songs as "Someday My Prince Will Come," "How My Heart Sings," "What Kind of Fool Am I?", and others. Although by no means an essential release, ardent Evans fans will definitely want to check this out.

Bill Evans' third and final recording of overdubbed solos differs from the previous two in that he utilizes an electric piano in addition to his acoustic playing. Evans plays quite well on this album (which includes four of his later originals, obscurities by Cy Coleman, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington and "Nobody Else but Me") but the results are less memorable than one might expect for Bill Evans seemed always at his best in trio settings.

Bill Evans' 1963 album Plays the Theme from The V.I.P.s and Other Great Songs features the legendary pianist eschewing his more introspective sound for a commercial pop approach. Working with an orchestral background courtesy of conductor/arranger Claus Ogerman (uncredited here), Evans delves into songs by such writers as Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer, Elmer Bernstein, Miklós Rózsa, and others. While the album has more to do with light easy listening than deep harmonic jazz exploration, there is much to enjoy here for fans of jazz-inflected '60s pop.

Morning Glory: The 1973 Concert at the Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires is the first official release of pianist Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell captured live at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 24, 1973.

When Bill Evans agreed to do a two piano date with Bob Brookmeyer, eyebrows surely must have raised. Pairing a rising superstar of modern jazz with a gentleman known for playing valve trombone and arranging charts might have been deemed by some as a daunting task. Fortunately for the keyboardists, this was a good idea and a marvelous concept, where the two could use the concept of counterpoint and improvisation to an enjoyable means, much like a great chess match. For the listener, you are easily able to hear the difference between ostensible leader Evans in the right channel of the stereo separation, and the accompanist Brookmeyer in the left.