Bill Evans in his sideman days
Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 01/07/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album is the reissue of a number of sessions Bill Evans took part in his first New York years, 1957,1959. He was in the big apple since 1954, but this double cd album contains music only from these three years. Even if it's really long I'll write down the line ups of these three different sessions reissued here:
1 Jimmy Knepper (trombone), Gene Quill (alto sax), Bill Evans (piano), Teddy Lotick (bass), Danny Richmond.
2 Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums).
3 Clarence "Gene" Shaw (trumpet), Jimmy Knepper (trombone), Shafi Hadi (alto sax, tenor sax), Bill Evans (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), Dannie Richmond (drums).
As bonus tracks this reissue contains also some more tunes to complete the Jimmy Knepper music recorded for Gus Wildi and the same for Mingus (these tunes don't have Bill at the piano).
The music here is not impressionistic as most of the music Bill played later in his career. He was already a mature player with his own style, but here he was a sideman so he followed the style of music the owner of the gigs (Knepper and Mingus respectively) choosed to record. What kind of music is that? It is bebop in essence. The Knepper session is really good. And I can express the same rating for the Mingus session for sure. Music from Ming is different of course from Knepper music, so this create a sort of clash among the two session even if Bill is behind the ivories in both of them. Please consider that Bill is not the leader here so he obviously is not that in front. He comps very beautifully but mostly he plays the sideman role. So if you are interested in Bill Evans music as the world will know later in the sixties, buy his Riverside recordings first. This reissue in my opinion is for the completist or for people who want good jazz from the era but that don't want that impressionism from Bill, because here there are very few moments of that kind of Evanisms. I'll add that you can find here sunged versions of All blues, So what and Round midnight recorded just months after the Kind of Blue session (Miles Davis of course). The singer is Frank Minion. They are fun to listen to (also because Evans-Cobb-Chambers are the exact Kind of blue rhythm section) but Frank Minion goes out of tune here and there and, well, probably this stuff could stay in the vaults. Noone would complain.
In the end my overall rating is four stars. Mainly for the very good musicians involved. The music is good music from the period, the very nice the Knepper bebop session in particular. The other material is mostly a filler in my opinion, it is less inspiring material. The Ming session boring at some point. Bill shines when he has the opportunity to put his ideas on the table. But these were not his dates, so ... you have the picture. If you are a Bill Evans completist buy this one, if you are generally interested in Bill Evans music begin with his Riverside recordings. Or if you don't have it already, get that old, fabolous Kind of Blue album, which more or less, is a Bill Evans and friends album in the end. We're not deaf Miles, you dude! Evans touch as a writer is fully evident in Kind of Blue. =)))))"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1
