Another chapter in Evans’s time in Europe is immaculately captured in these live recordings, and for those interested in the pianist’s music will be another essential purchase
Elemental Records 5990451
Disc 1:
Bill Evens – piano, Chuck Israel – bass, Larry Bunker – drums
Recorded live in Helsinki, Finland, August 13, 1964
Bill Evans – piano, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen – bass, Alan Dawson – drums, Lee Konitz – alto sax (on B3 only)
Helsinki Jazz Festival, Helsinki, Finland, November 1, 1965
Disc 2:
Bill Evans – piano, Eddie Gomez – bass, Marty Morell – drums
University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, October 28, 1969
Zev Feldman and Elemental Records have documented extensively Bill Evans European concerts, and this release is the fourth that has come my way. What is so fascinating about not just the individual albums, but the entire series to date is how different the music is.
By this time in his career, from the mid-sixties onwards, Evans seem to have found much of the repertoire that would serve him well for the rest of his life. Like Lee Konitz (who is featured with Evans on one track on this selection), the pianist is seemingly to find infinite variations and ways of expressing his ideas on familiar material. It is also a point of interest to hear how the music changes, albeit in a subtle manner, with each different bass/drums combination.
Disc 1 kicks off with what became known as his “second trio” formed after the death of bassist Scott LaFaro and departure of Paul Motian on drums. This new trio with Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker were a perfect match with Evans and were able to perfectly able to mirror the mood of the pianist as he sought to find a new sound for the trio. Sounding relaxed and composed the trio turn in excellent readings of ‘Nardis’, ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘Detour Ahead’.
There are two versions of ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’ first off with Israels and Bunker, and with the bass and drums team of Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Alan Dawson with the latter having a very different feel with Dawson’s more forceful and propulsive drumming. Interesting is the closing track with Lee Konitz joining the trio for a a run through of ‘My Melancholy Baby’ in which Evans’s comping behind the altoist is sparse to say the least before laying out altogether.
Disc 2 is perhaps a more satisfying listen overall with nearly an hour of music from a single concert featuring Evans with bassist Eddie Gomez and Marty Morrell taking over the drum stool. This trio is really dynamic with the pianist pushing the music and his playing to another level. LaFaro’s composition ‘Gloria’s Step’ is taken at a brisk tempo and there is a strong version of Evans’s own ‘Very Early’. There is a probing take on Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’ and keeping the tempo slow, ‘Quiet Now’ and ‘Emily’ are given delicately lyrical readings.
Comparing the second trio playing ‘Nardis’ with the extended exploration with Gomez and Morrell reveals how far Evans was looking to move his music, and his playing has a harder and more angular attack as he follows the bassist’s opening solo.
Another chapter in Evans’s time in Europe is immaculately captured in these live recordings, and for those interested in the pianist’s music will be another essential purchase. For many the conundrum will be just how much more live recordings of the trio they need, but it would be a shame to miss out hearing how Evans’s was constantly evolving and reviewing his approach to his repertoire.
