Late jazz pianist Bill Evans was a rather diffident public performer, an odd characteristic for one of the finest musicians in the business.
In the liner notes to the 1968 release "Alone," he wrote "this has nothing to do with my desire to communicate or not, but rather just a problem of personal self-consciousness."
When Evans did choose to perform, however, one of his favorite clubs was the Village Vanguard in New York City, which gave birth to the classic 1961 "Village Vanguard Sessions," but one of his finer taped performances languished in the vaults for 16 years.
Last month, Warner Brothers studios announced the release of the much-awaited 1980 Village Vanguard Sessions.
Titled "Highlights from Turning Out the Stars," this album is clearly one of the pianist's most mature, sensitive and thoroughly swinging live performances.
Though he died three months later, after succumbing to years of abuse caused by his prolonged cocaine addiction, Evans plays, as bassist Marc Johnson comments in the liner notes, "as if he is out of his body."
Accompanied by Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, Evans reaches new heights of the "total trio improvisation" concept which he pioneered.
The album starts off with "Bill's Hit Tune," a medium tempo composition in which Evans' trademark singing melodic lines and intricately woven harmonic structures shine.
Johnson also takes an ample solo on this track, laying down rounded quarter and eighth notes in the upper register of the acoustic bass. For a second, he sounds deceptively like Evans' old sideman, Scott LaFaro, but Johnson's style clearly places more emphasis on the direction of the composition as implied by the harmony.
The album features a mix of originals as well as Evans staples such as "My Foolish Heart" and "Like Someone in Love." The introspective, probing and beautifully lyrical qualities of his playing are still there, but his keyboard style has evolved away from the standard slow and brooding playing.
On "Turn Out the Stars," he not only varies dynamics and tone with considerably mastery but manages to silence critics who accused him of over-sentimentality and unoriginality.
It is evident that his command over the entire range of the keyboard is beyond technical reproach in this performance as is his increasing desire to be musically expressive as a complete trio.
The result is that the listener gets all of the old Bill Evans and then some -- neither age nor drug addiction have affected his music in this album.
Listen to "My Foolish Heart" for a clinic on developing harmonic structure and intelligent, thoughtful improvisation; or "Bill's Hit Tune" for a powerful right hand running frantically over the upper octaves of the piano, playing beautifully expressive phrases measure after measure.
On "Yet Ne'er Broken," hear the interplay between Evans and LaBarbera as they trade fours to perfection. Or on Miles Davis' "Nardis," listen to Evans play with an authority that is reminiscent of Thelonious Monk, perhaps jazz's most unique piano stylist.
Evan's specialty, however, is playing standards and ballads, and "I Do It For Your Love" is as sensitive and lyrical a ballad as Evans has ever played.
It is indeed tough for Bill Evans to outdo himself, especially late in his career when his previously recorded material is considered seminal to jazz history. If Evans played a jazz standard, chances are that his version was definitive and complete.
However, even without the intellectual attachments to history, Evans plays with such authority and swing on this album that it surpasses anything expected from a musician of his caliber.
Evans has given a significant amount of his talent, consciously or not, to the history of modern jazz piano. "Highlights from Turning Out the Stars," is yet one more addition to Evans' list of accomplishments. Sit back and enjoy, for this album has all the stuff great music is made of.
