Search - Bill Evans :: Portrait in Jazz

Beyond category

stranger2himself | Down Here | 03/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most of Bill Evans' work is great and timeless. Much of it, like this record, transcends jazz or any other stylistic category. It is simply gorgeous, intelligent music. As some writers have said, he seemed to distill beauty and nostalgia out of thin air."

Wow!

Fly By Light | Atlanta, Georgia | 04/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is my seventh Evans recording and it is like I am getting to know him all over again. This album has energy, freshness and joy that just isn't there on later recordings. The recording quality is more than satisfactory. The group's playing is smart and engaging with a skillful balance between technical skill and understated musicality. The playfulness brought to standards like Witchcraft is a welcome contrast to many of his later more brooding works. LaFaro and Motian provide their legendary support and interplay with their typcial flair. This was definitely a high point for Evans, before drugs, bad health and personal problems got in the way. No Evans collection would be complete without this recording."

Subtle and swinging

A. Claburn | San Francisco | 11/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'll be brief: Bill Evans is, in my esteem, the most devastatingly moving piano player ever to walk this earth. He is at his absolute best here, full of subtle, deep emotional expression and swinging hard with the rhythm section, often at the same time. Evans, LaFaro and Motian are simply unmatched in their cohesiveness and supreme ability to listen and respond instantly to one another's improvisational threads and evolving harmonic and melodic ideas. "Portrait in Jazz" is an absolute necessity for anyone who loves Bill Evans, or anyone who wants to understand why so many of us do."