Bill Evans

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

You know you have too many records (and/or are getting old(er)?  ) when you buy something you already have in your collection. I recently did this at a local used bookstore that was blowing out a bunch of used CDs at a buck each. I bought Bill Evans Verve Jazz Masters 5, then FLAC-ed it in Foobar, only to discover I already had it in my collection. Bill Evans is one whose work I've always been aware of, but never paid much attention to. This has now changed, and though I will curse the dollar I wasted for the rest of my days  it finally made me really listen to this. My favorite track was "NYC's No Lark". I quickly looked up the title, but found no explanation of what it means. Does anyone know?

My wife and I have actually enjoyed listening to Thibaudet's Conversations with Bill Evans for years, but this was the first time I really paid serious attention to Evans' playing itself. Such a unique voice which speaks softly and subtly with never (rarely) an overt display of virtuosity. It seems that one could entirely miss the point of his music unless one is paying careful attention (as I was not for so many years)

We were recently on vacation on the California Central Coast (near Carmel) in a vacation cottage, and it rained heavily on a couple of the days. Bill Evan's music--including "Here's that rainy day" was a wonderful companion to an afternoon of rain and a fire in the fireplace, and the smells of a gourmet dinner cooking in the kitchen. I also have Waltz for Debby CD and I think I have Interplay on LP (will have to do some digging). I saw also there is an LP with Evans and Tony Bennett, which also looks interesting. The LP with Chet Baker also looks like a must-have. What are your favorites?

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

There seems to be no edit function anymore? Anyway, meant to add that the track "NYC's No Lark" reminds me of one of Scriabin's preludes...

[Artem]

Portrait in Jazz was actually the disk that got me into jazz music after I had somewhat lukewarm reaction to A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue. I have 5 or 6 disks by him, but out of those I haven't heard anything that was as good as Sunday at the Village Vanguard.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I love pretty much everything I've heard from Bill Evans, at least from his "classic" period. The Village Vanguard live recordings are of course justifiable classics, which you can pick up in a nice 3-CD box.

Portrait in Jazz and Everybody Digs Bill Evans are a couple of other great albums. There's also Conversations with Myself, a very interesting experiment in multi-miking.

Evans' personal style seems to owe a lot to early 20th century expressionism; there are some strong classical influences, to the point where it almost makes nonsense of the jazz/classical distinction. You might be reminded of Debussy or Berg at times (and Scriabin, whom XB-70 references above). This has had a heavy influence on Brad Mehldau, for instance.

Also worth mentioning is that Evans is sideman on some other classic albums, such as Kind of Blue and Blues and the Abstract Truth.

I do wish Evans had been more active as a composer - the few tunes that originated with him, such as "Peace Piece" and "Interplay," are fascinating in and of themselves, and suggest a compelling, rather hypnotic original style.