Bill Evans Album (Columbia) available again

[jazzbo]

I know that Flurin and I were discussing the availability of the Bill Evans Album on Columbia on cd in recent months, but I haven't located the thread though I tried.

Just wanted to mention that I've discovered this has been reissued in Europe on a CBS/Columbia cd, and it's nice too have it in print again.

[Nate Dorward]

Hm... "nice" is a relative term.... I remember this as something of a low point. Does it improve with age/familiarity?

[fasstrack]

Hm... "nice" is a relative term.... I remember this as something of a low point. Does it improve with age/familiarity?

Low point? I liked it. It had The Two Lonely People, Comrade Conrad, TTTT, and others. Good recording. Bill was experimenting with the Rhodes on it.

[fasstrack]

Hm... "nice" is a relative term.... I remember this as something of a low point. Does it improve with age/familiarity?

Low point? I liked it. It had The Two Lonely People, Comrade Conrad, TTTT, and others. Good recording. Bill was experimenting with the Rhodes on it. Edited December 5, 2009 by fasstrack

[jazzbo]

I like it too. There's little Evans I don't.

[John L]

I've never heard it described as a low point before. It does come from what I consider to be a weaker time in his career, but this might be my favorite Evans disc from this time period - quite good.

[JSngry]

He plays more on top of the beat than usual on this one. But none dare call it "rushing", do they...

[Larry Kart]

He plays more on top of the beat than usual on this one. But none dare call it "rushing", do they...

About a month ago I played the disc 1 version of "Bill's Hit Tune" from the "Turn Out the Stars" set. Seemed to me that the tempo increased by about 20 percent, maybe more, during Evans' solo. This pretty much made the music rhythmically incoherent IMO; where "one" was essentially disappeared. Is there any other well-regarded jazz musician who had this problem to the extent that Evans eventually did? I've never heard anything close to it.

[Jerry]

For some reason this Album doesn't seem to get much love. I have always liked it a lot. It contains only Bill Evans compositions. The solo he takes on 'The two lonely people' is one of the most perfect solos Evans ever did, IMO.

[Shrdlu]

I remember when it first came out. My jazz buddies and I, all big Evans fans, loved it.

[Kyo]

I like it, too.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

He plays more on top of the beat than usual on this one. But none dare call it "rushing", do they...

About a month ago I played the disc 1 version of "Bill's Hit Tune" from the "Turn Out the Stars" set. Seemed to me that the tempo increased by about 20 percent, maybe more, during Evans' solo. This pretty much made the music rhythmically incoherent IMO; where "one" was essentially disappeared. Is there any other well-regarded jazz musician who had this problem to the extent that Evans eventually did? I've never heard anything close to it.

I don't have your book at hand, but was it you that said that Evans' brisker tempos late in his career was because he replaced the skag with coke?

[Larry Kart]

He plays more on top of the beat than usual on this one. But none dare call it "rushing", do they...

About a month ago I played the disc 1 version of "Bill's Hit Tune" from the "Turn Out the Stars" set. Seemed to me that the tempo increased by about 20 percent, maybe more, during Evans' solo. This pretty much made the music rhythmically incoherent IMO; where "one" was essentially disappeared. Is there any other well-regarded jazz musician who had this problem to the extent that Evans eventually did? I've never heard anything close to it.

I don't have your book at hand, but was it you that said that Evans' brisker tempos late in his career was because he replaced the skag with coke?

That's what I heard and wrote (though there also was a methadone period that had its own effects), and IIRC the same or similar points are made in Peter Pettinger's biography of Evans. BTW, it's not a matter of brisker tempos but of speeding up the initial tempo as the piece goes along (a.k.a. "rushing").

[king ubu]

Lon, I've got the European reissue a few months ago (but it's buried on the new stuff pile somewhere, has yet to be played).

These new reissues come with a small beige frame around the cover, it's kind of a cheapo series with no liner notes, just a four page (actually one page, fold) booklet with bare-bones info. Fine enough for me, as I finally found it!

(Other releases in this series include Brubeck, Garner, Ellington... seems to be some "great albums" series or whatever...)

[RiRiIII]

Lon, I've got the European reissue a few months ago (but it's buried on the new stuff pile somewhere, has yet to be played).

These new reissues come with a small beige frame around the cover, it's kind of a cheapo series with no liner notes, just a four page (actually one page, fold) booklet with bare-bones info. Fine enough for me, as I finally found it!

(Other releases in this series include Brubeck, Garner, Ellington... seems to be some "great albums" series or whatever...)

I like this Cd very much and I am very fond of the Funkallero that opens it!!

I managed to find an excellent used copy at e-bay a year ago for about $15.-- after loosing several auctions that ended far above than 50 to 60 dollars.

Happy that this has been finally re-issued

Best

Alex

[fasstrack]

He plays more on top of the beat than usual on this one. But none dare call it "rushing", do they...

About a month ago I played the disc 1 version of "Bill's Hit Tune" from the "Turn Out the Stars" set. Seemed to me that the tempo increased by about 20 percent, maybe more, during Evans' solo. This pretty much made the music rhythmically incoherent IMO; where "one" was essentially disappeared. Is there any other well-regarded jazz musician who had this problem to the extent that Evans eventually did? I've never heard anything close to it.

Cedar Walton, George Coleman, Art Farmer all play 'on top'. (Listen to Stompin' at the Savoy on the live at the Half Note record w/Jim Hall. I think Walter Perkins was the culprit, though). Wes Montgomery played on top. That can be exciting as long as it's not out of control. Tal Farlow really rushed, especially when he came back in '69. That was the kind of rushing that actually makes rhythm sections and listeners uncomfortable---and I say this as an admirer of Tal, one of the more inventive and unique improvisers of his day He was the first to acknowledge it, BTW. Then there are musicians who seem to be playing ahead b/c of the nature of their ideas and rhythmic displacement, but whose time is perfect. Warne Marsh is an example.

Bill Evans got progressively 'rushier' as his recorded career went on. Listen to any of the live stuff from the Vanguard toward the end. It is brilliant harmonically and in his concepts. Nardis became something quite amazing. But swing? Relaxation? Go listen to Basie or Wynton Kelly..............

There are a lot of reasons why good musicians speed up (or slow down) tempos. It can be distraction, excitement on an important gig, lack of comfort with the musicians on the stand, anxiety to get one's ideas out-----or, since Bill Evans is the topic----drug use. There's a difference in Evans work form the heroin to cocaine period. There's discussion of Evans rushing in his last trio with Joe LaBarbara in Peter Pettinger's biography of Evans.

Just my opinion............

[John L]

Evans always had a tendency to rush tempos as he gathered energy. Although cocaine may have contributed something to this in his later years, I think that it was more basically the fact that he became more extroverted as a player. Rather than discipline himself to the tempos set by bass and drums, as he often did in earlier years, he would play in a more rhythmically "free" manner and expect the bass and drums to follow him. I recall a quote somewhere from Evans to his sidemen just after he formed his last trio with Johnson and LaBarbera, "Yea, I'm rushing, I know I'm rushing, but just try to follow me."

But I agree with fasstrack. That is just part of the package of Evans, particularly late period Evans. I just accept it in order to appreciate everything else that goes with it.

[fasstrack]

Evans always had a tendency to rush tempos as he gathered energy. Although cocaine may have contributed something to this in his later years, I think that it was more basically the fact that he became more extroverted as a player. Rather than discipline himself to the tempos set by bass and drums, as he often did in earlier years, he would play in a more rhythmically "free" manner and expect the bass and drums to follow him. I recall a quote somewhere from Evans to his sidemen just after he formed his last trio with Johnson and LaBarbera, "Yea, I'm rushing, I know I'm rushing, but just try to follow me."

But I agree with fasstrack. That is just part of the package of Evans, particularly late period Evans. I just accept it in order to appreciate everything else that goes with it.

His greatness was in his complete maturity in all other respects. It was like he was in his own world of sound. I'm sure he knew the end was near, too, and felt a particular urgency to say a lot in a short time. His music was very aggressive and intense in the last few years. Far from the introverted ballad player that was always his image (bullshit, anyway. He was a complete jazz pianist from the beginning, with a world of experience from the age of 14).

[Larry Kart]

Evans always had a tendency to rush tempos as he gathered energy. Although cocaine may have contributed something to this in his later years, I think that it was more basically the fact that he became more extroverted as a player. Rather than discipline himself to the tempos set by bass and drums, as he often did in earlier years, he would play in a more rhythmically "free" manner and expect the bass and drums to follow him. I recall a quote somewhere from Evans to his sidemen just after he formed his last trio with Johnson and LaBarbera, "Yea, I'm rushing, I know I'm rushing, but just try to follow me."

But I agree with fasstrack. That is just part of the package of Evans, particularly late period Evans. I just accept it in order to appreciate everything else that goes with it.

Evans' rushing doesn't sound "rhythmically 'free'" to me at all but "trapped" and compulsive -- in the grip of a force or forces over which he had little expressive control. I'm familar, too, with latter-day Farlow, especially in live performance, and while he might indeed have been rushing some on those nights, the dominant impression I recall is of ecstatic virtuosity -- speed of thought and execution as one, the closest thing I've ever heard to Tatum.

To quote myself on latter-day Evans, though:

'There are any number of great jazz performances that could be described as driven, harried, and feverish -- Bud Powell’s “Un Poco Loco” is one obvious example. But if Powell’s “Un Poco Loco” is driven, harried, etc., it is expressively so -- the anguish, if you will, pervades every strand of the musical fabric and is mastered there, or at least exhilaratingly confronted, in the terms of Powell’s art. But the latter-day Evans often sounds like a man on the run (and not only because of his longstanding tendency to rush), strewing forth pianistic “gems” in an attempt to distract or evade pursuers.'

[felser]

Has the one on Columbia with George Russell from the same time period ever come out on CD? I remember liking it, but haven't heard it in 30+ years.

[John L]

Evans always had a tendency to rush tempos as he gathered energy. Although cocaine may have contributed something to this in his later years, I think that it was more basically the fact that he became more extroverted as a player. Rather than discipline himself to the tempos set by bass and drums, as he often did in earlier years, he would play in a more rhythmically "free" manner and expect the bass and drums to follow him. I recall a quote somewhere from Evans to his sidemen just after he formed his last trio with Johnson and LaBarbera, "Yea, I'm rushing, I know I'm rushing, but just try to follow me."

But I agree with fasstrack. That is just part of the package of Evans, particularly late period Evans. I just accept it in order to appreciate everything else that goes with it.

Evans' rushing doesn't sound "rhythmically 'free'" to me at all but "trapped" and compulsive -- in the grip of a force or forces over which he had little expressive control. I'm familar, too, with latter-day Farlow, especially in live performance, and while he might indeed have been rushing some on those nights, the dominant impression I recall is of ecstatic virtuosity -- speed of thought and execution as one, the closest thing I've ever heard to Tatum.

To quote myself on latter-day Evans, though:

'There are any number of great jazz performances that could be described as driven, harried, and feverish -- Bud Powell’s “Un Poco Loco” is one obvious example. But if Powell’s “Un Poco Loco” is driven, harried, etc., it is expressively so -- the anguish, if you will, pervades every strand of the musical fabric and is mastered there, or at least exhilaratingly confronted, in the terms of Powell’s art. But the latter-day Evans often sounds like a man on the run (and not only because of his longstanding tendency to rush), strewing forth pianistic “gems” in an attempt to distract or evade pursuers.'

Fair enough, in the sense that Evans did not give the impression of being consciously in control of the tempos at that point in his career. They seemed to emerge and evolve as a strange, but natural and unavoidable byproduct of his creative process at that point in time. Too me, however, the late Evans does not sound "trapped" by these tempos. On the contrary, sometime around 1974, his music takes on a new sort of purpose, a new melodic deepness, more variations in rhythmic accents around the (sometimes frantic) tempos. Perhaps that is why he felt more comfortable just letting it all come out, rushed tempos and all. He had a lot to say. I am certainly in a minority, but 1974-1980 is by far my favorite period of Bill Evans.

Edited December 8, 2009 by John L

[Jerry]

'But the latter-day Evans often sounds like a man on the run (and not only because of his longstanding tendency to rush), strewing forth pianistic “gems” in an attempt to distract or evade pursuers.'

Fine-sounding prose but what does that even mean? Who are the pursuers supposed to be? Rival pianists? And he is increasing the tempo within a tune to throw them off? Doesn't make sense to me.

[Larry Kart]

'But the latter-day Evans often sounds like a man on the run (and not only because of his longstanding tendency to rush), strewing forth pianistic “gems” in an attempt to distract or evade pursuers.'

Fine-sounding prose but what does that even mean? Who are the pursuers supposed to be? Rival pianists? And he is increasing the tempo within a tune to throw them off? Doesn't make sense to me.

No, not other pianists. Read this sometimes harrowing multi-part interview with Evans' last female companion, Laurie Verchomin, and you'll have some idea:

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/08/interview-l...min-part-1.html

[Jerry]

OK I read the interview. I guess you are trying to say he was a man rushing because he was being pursued by his demons or death or something, which is ok, but not at all clear from the quote, though perhaps in context it made more sense.

[JSngry]

Read this sometimes harrowing multi-part interview with Evans' last female companion, Laurie Verchomin, and you'll have some idea:

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/08/interview-l...min-part-1.html

I kept waiting for the story to get a little less...uh...."creepy", but it never happened....guess you had to be there, like, literally.

Addicts...what seems cool in your twenties, tolerable in your thirties, and a tolerable annoyance in your forties, after a while it just gets to be, like, take responsibility for your life and grow the fuck up, ya' know? Nobody expects perfection, but at least try harder than not...

Oh well, Evans is dead & she feels enriched by the experience. No harm, no foul.