Bill Evans

[Beast]

I just stumbled upon this brilliant player, and found out he's quite famous. I can see why.

Any must-listens? I so far have preferred his ballad-oriented stuff, like his rendition of "What are you doing the rest of your life"

[Mark Perna]

The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961

Read about it and listen to samples here:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Villa...2500123&sr=8-1

Then buy it. It is the greatest recording of all time.

mark

[climb]

Waltz for Debby

[Uncletoad]

....and don't overlook his duet with Tony Bennett. No bass but it is a work of art.

[Zombbg4]

I met one of his bassists once, Chuck Israels, and had no idea who he was at the time. Wish I coulda had a lesson with him!

[JtheJazzMan]

i highly recommend transcribing some of eddie gomez' solos on "you must believe in spring"

line construction can be a bit whack at times, but he also has really nice scalic ideas

[Eli_Upright12]

I'm a fan of a CD called Explorations, that is with the famous trio including Scott Lafaro and Paul Motian. Also there is an interesting album called California Here I Come; it has Gomez and I forget which drummer, but it includes a couple songs that I dont think most people would associate with Bill Evans. It has Round Midnight, In a Sentimental Mood and On Green Dolphin Street along with some of Bill's original compositions.

[Buddhapadge]

Explorations is a great CD. All the stuff with LaFaro is great, and so are the Paris Concert albums with Marc Johnson on bass, you should check them out.

[relacey]

Assuming you mean Bill Evans the piano genius and not the sax playing Bill Evans or the banjo playing Bill Evans, than there's lots of Bill Evans on emusic. Here, here, here, here, here, and here.

[wineaux]

Beast,

Congrats on finding Mr. Evans. I can remember when I first heard him, too. Waltz for Debby is terrific, but are so many others he recorded. And he played with some incredibly talented bassists.

Start listening, and enjoy.

[scotts42]

Anything with Scott Lafaro

[Uncletoad]

...and since nobody has mentioned it yet. The most popular jazz record of all time, Miles Davis "Kinda Blue" would not have been near what it was without the contributions of Bill Evans on most of the tracks.

The only Miles record he ever appeared on.

The most popular Jazz record of all time.

Coincidence? You be the judge.

[damonsmith]

While I love the Village Vanguard box, I have always liked Trio 64 with Gary Peacock.

[Mark Perna]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

...and since nobody has mentioned it yet. The most popular jazz record of all time, Miles Davis "Kinda Blue" would not have been near what it was without the contributions of Bill Evans on most of the tracks.

The only Miles record he ever appeared on.

The most popular Jazz record of all time.

Coincidence? You be the judge.

Great call!

KOB is the greatest record of all time.

And while KOB is the only time Evans recorded in the studio with Miles, for the dedicated fan, there are a few other Evans with Miles recordings out there. All of them are concert recordings from around 1958 or so. One was called something like "Jazz at the Plaza" and i believe it was included with one of the Miles Boxed sets. A disc called, and I'm doing this from memory, "Radio Broadcasts '58-'59" was recently released with Evans on 4 tunes (the piano is barely audible so if you want it for Evans save your money; the rest of the band sounds great though and it's worth getting for new Coltrane). I'm pretty sure there is at least one more but the memory is sketchy this morning.

mark

[cnltb]

Complete riverside recordings is good as well, later tho.

[wilsonn]

Portrait in Jazz with Motian and LoFaro

[Bassmickeyd]

What's real odd about the fact The Vanguard Sessions which are in such high regard near 50-years after they were recorded is the fact few people that were in attendance the Sunday afternoon they were recorded. It sounds like 3 or 4 people applauding at the end of each tune.
Since all of Bill's bassists are still alive, other than Scott , it would be interesting to listen to an interview on their take of what it was like to play with Bill, knowing he spent most of his life trying to get back to the musical interplay he experienced with Scott LaFaro. Though I met Marc Johnson once and "friendly" isn't a word I'd use to describe him.
There are also interviews on youtube between Bill and his piano playing brother, done in 1966 (everybodys smokin'), called the Universal Mind of Bill Evans.

[Eli_Upright12]

Just a side note, so I was at a gig last night for some corporate big wigs and after we're done one kind of hip looking guy comes up and ask "Do you know why this week is important in Jazz history?" I started scrolling through my database of jazz facts and dates, but was drawing a blank on what might of happened in February of 1959(I was able to narrow it down to that year) and he said "Its the 50th anniversary of the recording of Kind of Blue." It was cool to have some one appreciate what we were playing. We also did a couple staples of the Bill Evans repertoire(Nardis, Israel and Detour Ahead).

[ameshokostreet]

Bill Evans is really really awesome... I knew he was special the first time I heard him in KOB. His best selling albums are Waltz for Debby and Vanguard Village. I'm picking them up from the store the moment I get my pocket money(I know, I'm still leeching off my parents). Another week or so..

[PaperbackRyder]

If I were to be stuck on a desert island, all I would ask for is;
Village Vanguard & Waltz for Debbie (both recorded during three sets of the same gig.) PLUS Kind of Blue.
Nuf said.