‘Bill Evans in Norway – The Kongsberg Concert’

There’s newly discovered music by the great jazz pianist Bill Evans coming on Record Store Day this year, November 29th. That’s the release date for Bill Evans in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert – on the Elemental Music label.

Recorded at The Kongsberg Jazz Festival in June 1970, this 2 LP set features Bill Evans (1929 – 1980) leading a trio of bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, both born in 1944, and both still active.

Listening to this release, you may be struck by how contemporary it sounds. That’s because Evans, and his various trios, have been such an enormous influence on subsequent pianists and piano trios to this day. This is a common observation but it bears repeating, and I’ll let another influential pianist help do the honors here: Paul Bley told me of a conversation he had with pianist Martial Solal, who’d recently started a school for Jazz piano students. Bley teased Solal, saying about Solal’s students “They study with you at your school, …how come they all come out sounding like Bill Evans?”

Listening to this quietly dazzling recording, I’m struck by an irony though: Evans’ influence is inescapable these days, yet there’s no mistaking a Bill Evans Trio recording for a recording by anybody else.That’s one reason a new release by this trio is so valuable. Listeners get a better feel for the music’s past from archival recordings like this, but also a real sense of how we got to our present moment in Jazz.

The first side of the 2-LP set starts with a mid tempo version of Harold Arlen’s classic “Come Rain Or Come Shine” which quickly becomes a feature for bassist Eddie Gomez, who worked with Evans for 11 years. Michel Legrand’s dreamy ballad “What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life” follows and the side concludes with two Evans originals, “34 Skidoo” and “Turn Out The Stars.”

The second side opens with an uptempo “Autumn Leaves,” followed by Evans’ “Quiet Now.” The Miles Davis tune “So What,” a Jazz Standard at this point, concludes side two.

Side three opens with “Gloria’s Step” by the influential bassist Scott LaFaro, an important early collaborator with Evans before he died in a traffic accident. It closes with “Midnight Mood” by Ben Raleigh and pianist Joe Zawinul. The centerpiece of this side is a reading of “Emily”, the beautiful waltz time song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer, from the 1964 film The Americanization Of Emily.

The final side (like the previous 2) consists of just 3 pieces. “Who Can I Turn To” by the English composer of film music Leslie Bricusse, “Some Other Time” by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green and a nearly 10 minute version of Miles Davis’ tune “Nardis.” Hearing this trio stretch out is a joy.

A listener looking for Bill Evans’ trio music can wander down to the local record shop on Record Store Day on November 29th for an LP copy of this recording. A compact disc version will follow shortly.

Having heard the music, I look forward to the booklet which will be included with the LP, with liner notes by Marc Myers, photos taken at the performance by Arthur Sand, interviews with Gomez and Morell and more.

Having only heard a streaming mp3 version, I can only speculate about how the hard copy will sound to audiophiles. But I’d be very surprised if the LP and CD versions didn’t hold up admirably next to other recordings of this trio. Through headphones I’ve been captivated by the music and pleasantly surprised by the sound. Like everything I’ve heard which producer Zev Feldman (aka “The Jazz Detective”) has unearthed, this one comes highly recommended.

• Label: Elemental Music
• 5990447
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• from https://ukjazznews.com