CD1
Portrait in Jazz
1. Come Rain or Come Shine
2. Autumn Leaves
3. Witchcraft
4. When I Fall in Love
5. Peri's Scope
6. What is This Thing Called Love
7. Spring is Here
8. Some Day My Prince Will Come
9. Blue in Green (take 3)
Bill Evans - Piano
Scott LaFaro - Bass
Paul Motian - Drums
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
10. Minority
11. Young and Foolish
12. Lucky to be Me
13. Night and Day
14. Tenderly
15. Peace Piece
16. What is There to Say?
Bill Evans - Piano
Sam Jones - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Drums
CD2
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
1. Oleo
2. Epilogue
Bill Evans - Piano
Sam Jones - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Drums
Sunday at the Village Vanguard
3. Gloria's Step (take 2)
4. My Man's Gone Now
5. Solar
6. Alice in Wonderland (take 2)
7. All of You (take 2)
8. Jade Visions (take 2)
Bill Evans - Piano
Scott LaFaro - Bass
Paul Motian - Drums
Alternate Takes
9. Gloria's Step (take 3)
10. Alice in Wonderland (take 1)
11. All of You (take 3)
12. Jade Visions (take 1)
13. Blue in Green (take 1)
These three celebrated CDs and the alternate takes will be familiar to all Bill Evans fans. They have all been issued before in various formats.
CD1
Portrait in Jazz,
recorded in New York in December, 1959 on Riverside was the first recording by Evans's new trio with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. The pianist had just been voted sixth in the Down Beat Readers Poll, having been twentieth in the previous year, and LaFaro was the critics' New
Star on bass. The chosen repertoire was mainly standards with one original, Peri's Scope, named for Evans's then girl-friend. This tune was the
first to be recorded on the session and demonstrates quickly that LaFaro was already an equal partner with Evans. LaFaro's bass (of which more later in
this review) had a bridge with a lower height, bringing the strings closer to the fingerboard and enabling him to solo almost like a guitarist. This
technique is evident on Witchcraft which contains an astonishingly deft solo.
The recording session contained two takes of Autumn Leaves, the first of which was monaural due to an equipment failure, but it is not included on
this reissue. There were three takes of Blue in Green - the second take is not included on this reissue.
My copy of Portrait in Jazz is issued on OJC and was digitally remastered directly from the original analog master tapes. Its sound quality is
significantly superior to the sound on this reissue despite Avid's claim of `probably the finest ever sound quality'.
The remainder of this CD comprises all but two of the tracks recorded a year earlier on Everybody Digs Bill Evans (the last two are on the
following CD) when Evans was joined by Cannonball Adderley's bassist, Sam Jones, and occasional Miles Davis drummer (when he wasn't in trouble with the
law!), Philly Joe Jones. The unrelated Joneses provide solid support on a recording that gathered many plaudits from Evans's fellow musicians. It ranges
from a beautiful, reflective Young and Foolish to an irresistibly swinging version of Sonny Rollins's Oleo. But probably the best-known
track is Evans's solo improvisation on the opening chords of Leonard Bernstein's Some Other Time. Evans called it Peace Piece and it is a
never-repeated masterpiece.
CD2
The famous Sunday at the Village Vanguard recordings plus some alternate takes make up the bulk of the second CD. Again, the sound does not seem
to be of the same quality as other reissues and anyone wanting to hear the complete sessions (covering some two-and-a-half hours of the very highest
quality music) would want the 2005 Riverside compilation.
Listening again to these very familiar tracks, one can only be immensely grateful that Orrin Keepnews set up this historic recording session when he did,
for, as is well-known, the prodigiously talented Scott LaFaro died just ten days later in an automobile accident. His telepathic empathy with Evans and his
breathtaking solos still resonate down the years. I read recently that LaFaro's instrument, an 1825 Abraham Prescott bass, had originally been restored for
LaFaro by Sam Kolstein's bass shop in Baldwin, Long Island. It was in the car the night that LaFaro was killed and it sat in Kolstein's shop, untouched,
for some 20 years, until Sam's son Barrie restored it once more. It has recently been used by bassist Phil Palombi in a recorded tribute to his hero.
Bass-lovers can find out more about this magnificent and historic instrument on You Tube.
In summary, these are three of the greatest piano jazz recordings of all time. Any jazz piano lover would want to have them in their collection. Whilst
this compilation may be cheaply priced, I would still recommend that a prospective buyer seeks out the best quality reissues.
George Stacy
CD Reviews
Avid AMSC 1119
