This is super timing for me. I just scored a load of Bill Evans CDs from a charity shop in perfect unused condition! I’m going through them for the first time and looking forward to hearing and learning more.
From a Gunther Schuller interview: "EI: For sure. Well, to get back to the initial burst of Third Stream, on that second record has “All About Rosie,” which just is George Russell’s masterpiece and features a famous Bill Evans piano improvisation. GS: Oh my, yes. EI: Was that a single take? GS: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean that last movement… here again I’m getting goose-pimples just recalling this. What’s interesting is that Evans had played up to that time in the rehearsals (I think by George’s request) a kind of chordal solo. And he did that so beautifully and so richly, in a quite modern style, and in George’s Lydian Concept language. But we were all stunned when in that particular take he launched into this single-note driving eighth-note solo. And as you know it’s sort of a stoptime chorus thing, where we play every 16 bars, or I mean… I was just sitting on the sidelines, because there was nothing to conduct there, you know. And out came this enormous solo, and it just in one fell swoop and—we just were looking at each other and we almost forget to come in a couple of times. I think that can arguably be thought about as being one of the greatest piano solos of all time."
A much as Kind Of Blue will be the popular pick how about the 1958 Miles sessions and his opening locked hands intro to On Green Dolphin Street? I can’t imagine how that sounded to people at the time it came out before KOB, we kind of take it for granted now. That would be my pick. Another favorite of mine is Portrait of Cannonball, you can’t have too many versions of Nardis. The George Russell stuff had some really interesting playing by him as well.
"Kind of blue" is the easy answer, but I have to agree with it. When I first heard KOB I knew Miles and Coltrane. Never heard of Bill before. The compositions were great, the interplay, the solos... But what put it above all the other records of the time were those chords on the background, the frame Bill was creating for what those other guys were painting. He was setting the pace, and giving the music tremendous meaning. You will say that this statement can be used for any of the other players. But I think that KOB would not have this relevance in music if Bill wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, there are other great works he did as a sideman. He plays always good and the albums gain with that. But to me, in Kind of blue, he was more than a sideman, he helped Miles creating a jazz timeless monument.
Kind of Blue is the obvious choice, so I'll go with this one that sowed the seed for the famous 1961 trio with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro.
Perhaps a Bill Evans thread will never take off with many frequent posts. I suggest simply opening up the discussion to anything related to Bill Evans rather than trying to channel it to just one aspect at a time. Now and then any particular topic may take off, while other discussions proceed simultaneously.
Tribute, thanks for the great paintings. Regarding the thread - it is a "All about Bill Evans" thread. Maybe it wasn't clear, but the themes are an extra. From the initial post: "Please post your opinion about the musician, the artist, the man… The album you are currently listening, your favorite one… Shows you’ve attended… We’ll also have a theme per month" I'll be delighted to hear anything about his albums or his life. Keep on posting anything Evans. Thanks again.
So the other day I found myself listening to this one again: All reviews say it's one of his lesser efforts. A nice one to put as background music though. But maybe the reason to listen to it, from time to time, is that it has "time remembered". One of his best compositions and here IMO you have the best version (yes, I known, with strings). You can also find that track played by the same trio (Chuck Israels, Larry Bunker), without strings on this one:
I think the listening experience are very similar. I would go for whatever bargains you can find in either series. The XRCDs have nicer covers. That may give you a nice feeling!