New Bill Evans remaster

Warner Brothers has just released a new remaster of Bill Evans's great album, "You Must Believe in Spring." This is one of his top piano trio albums, recorded in 1977 with Eddie Gomez and Eliot Zigmund, even if Warner sat on it for 4 years before it came out.

I won't tell you who did the remastering because some people on this forum would immediately think that they hate it without listening to it. But I think it sounds glorious. Yes, it is more treble-y than the original CD, but in part because there's less noise reduction. It also means you can actually hear the overtones in the piano, instead of the more mellow, less life-like sound on the original CD.

Plus, there are three great bonus tracks, all of which are longer, harder-swinging charts than what made the album. It's great to hear Bill finally have his say on Freddie Freeloader; the other bonus tracks are Without A Song and All Of You. I think Freddie Freeloader also has one of the more interesting and convincing uses of the Fender Rhodes that I've heard in Bill's 70s albums (the original album tracks had no electric piano).

Highly recommended!

- Joe

 

Thanks Joe, I may have to pick this one up. I'm a huge Bill Evans fan. He might even be my favorite pianist...

 

Wow...I guess no one else's favorite pianist.

 

Certainly he's one of my favorite jazz pianists, McCoy Tyner being another huge favorite. And hearing Brad Mehldau solo live at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society was a terrific experience.

If you love Bill Evans's music, you definitely want to pick up this issue. It's perhaps his best trio recording outside of the classic Riversides, and I probably listen to it more than any of his other albums. And this is a very well done remaster!

- Joe

 

This remaster has been available in Europe for some time (Warner 7599-23504-9), and indeed it sounds glorious. Musically, it is also my favourite Bill Evans album from the 70's.

The only negative points about the album are the short duration (34 minutes) and the fact that the bass has been recorded with a pick-up mic, resulting in a typical "rubber band" sound.

 

Bill Evans is great, no doubt about it. But is he my favorite pianist? Nope. Much as I do love Bill, and own quite a bit of his stuff (mostly on vinyl), my favorite is, has been, and will continue to be the great Thelonious Monk. There was no more unique thinker in jazz than Monk, with the possible exception of the unjustly neglected Herbie Nichols (who comes in 2nd on my list, Bill is 3rd).

 

I have his Mosaic box, but I don't think I could rank Herbie Nichols above Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, or Andrew Hill. Of course, our record collections aren't a Survivor-styled island where anyone has to be voted off.

Anyway, the new Sony/Legacy remasters of Thelonious Monk's Columbia albums are superb. I just got them in one swath from BMG Music Club, and they sound great. Remastering by Mark Wilder.

 

Thanks for the heads up Joe! I will grab this one next time I am near a record store.

On the note of recent Bill Evans re-issues, did anyone else get the recent remaster of "Everybody Digs Bill Evans"?

 

Hi Claude,

Does your European reissue have the bonus tracks? They add almost another 25 minutes to the running time of the album, and they're really good.

I was wondering why Gomez's tone sounded somewhat like an electric bass on this album - thanks for the explanation!

Matt, I've picked up all the Fantasy K2 reissues of the Bill Evans albums so far. I like them, but the difference in sound isn't as noticeable to me as on the Miles Davis or Massey Hall concerts in the same series. One nice thing is having the bonus tracks at the end, instead of interspresed as on the original releases. But that wasn't a problem on the original release of Everybody Digs Bill Evans. I'd still go for it if you're a fan!

Monk is great, no doubt, and I also very much enjoy the new Columbia remasters. Monk is doing very well in the CD remastering era between the work done on Blue Note, Riverside, and Columbia. Now we just need the Evans albums on Fantasy to get the same treatment, starting with Alone (Again) - the Riverside and Verve years are in pretty good shape these days.

- Joe

 

Joe,

I picked this up today and it is very good so far. Thanks again for the heads up.

I agree with you on the Bill Evans remasters. I have a few of the K2's myself and there isn't a major increase in sound quality.

On the remastering engineer, I have always understood that he is highly respected in his field and amongst the members here. His name should not (hopefully) turn anyone off.

 

No, it does not. Thanks for the information, Joe.

 

Cmon', spill it. Who remastered it?

 

Remastered by...

OK, now that we've had a discussion of the music, and there are other people besides me who really like the remastering...

... it was done by David Donnelly, who has been raked over the coals on this board for his work on the Chicago remasters. But NO, it is NOT compressed like the Chicago remasters - I double-checked on CoolEdit just to be sure.

- Joe

 

Joe, I thought it was Doug Sax who did (at least) some of this? I see he is credited on the outside of the back cover.

 

For the Warner US remaster of "You Must Believe in Spring", it's definitely David Donnelly credited in the booklet, with Jeff Magid and David Donnelly credited for remixing the bonus tracks. I don't see Doug Sax mentioned anywhere.

- Joe

 

That's weird. I see Donnelly credited on the inside, but on the back of the booklet I see mention of Doug Sax.

I guess I could scan it.

 

Could it be that Dough Sax was the mastering engineer back in 1981, when the album was released?

 

Claude's right again! The back cover of the *booklet* (vs. the back cover of the CD, where I looked) looks like a straight reproduction of the LP album cover, and that's where Mr. Sax is indeed credited.

- Joe