Bill Evans - Bill Evans: Hits and Rarities '2022

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
02. Carpetbagger's Theme
03. How My Heart Sings
04. Little Lulu
05. Just You, Just Me
06. Lullaby For Helene (Quartet Version)
07. How About You?
08. Once Upon A Summertime
09. Jazz Samba
10. Prelude
11. It Could Happen To You (Complete Take 2)
12. Bemsha Swing
13. WNEW (Theme Song)
14. Lucky To Be Me
15. The Dolphin - After
16. If You Could See Me Now (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
17. Polka Dots And Moonbeams (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
18. Baubles, Bangles And Beads (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
19. Soiree (Complete Take 3)
20. Danny Boy
21. These Things Called Changes
22. I've Got You Under My Skin
23. It Must Be Love
24. Orbit (Unless It's You)
25. A Simple Matter Of Conviction
26. Medley: All The Things You Are / Midnight Mood
27. In A Sentimental Mood (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
28. Pavane
29. Yesterdays
30. Only Child
31. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
32. California Here I Come (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
33. Time Remembered
34. Stella By Starlight
35. Funny Man
36. Introduction / One For Helen (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
37. Reflections In The Park
38. My Bells
39. Why Did I Choose You? (Complete Take 14 / Quartet Version)
40. California, Here I Come
41. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
42. Dream Gypsy
43. Elsa
44. A Sleeping Bee
45. Blue Monk
46. On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) (Alternate)
47. Hey There
48. For Heaven's Sake
49. Midnight Mood (Alternate)
50. One For Helen (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
51. Children's Play Song
52. Let's Go Back To The Waltz
53. But Beautiful
54. Green Dolphin Street
55. Spring Is Here
56. All Across The City
57. Israel
58. The Touch Of Your Lips (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
59. A Time For Love (Alternate)
60. I Love You (Live At The Newport Jazz Festival, 1957)
61. You're Gonna Hear From Me (Live At The Village Vanguard / 1967)
62. What Is This Thing Called Love?
63. I Hear A Rhapsody
64. My Foolish Heart (Live At Town Hall, New York City, 1966)
65. Love Is Here To Stay (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
66. G Waltz (Live At The Village Vanguard / 1967)
67. Israel (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
68. Make Someone Happy (Live At Town Hall, New York City/1966)
69. Emily
70. Darn That Dream
71. Tree Patterns
72. 'S Wonderful (Live At The Newport Jazz Festival, 1957)
73. Romain
74. Goodbye
75. Skating In Central Park
76. Star Eyes
77. My Melancholy Baby
78. My Love Is An April Song (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
79. Very Early (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
80. Melinda
81. Walkin' Up (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
82. Mother Of Earl (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
83. I Should Care (Live At Town Hall, New York City/1966)
84. Here's That Rainy Day
85. Love Theme (From "Spartacus")
86. Peach Tree
87. Elegia
88. Someday My Prince Will Come
89. Alone Together
90. Like Someone In Love
91. Straight No Chaser
92. Grandfather's Waltz (Alternate Take)
93. N.Y.C.'s No Lark
94. What Kind Of Fool Am I (Live At The Trident Club / 1964)
95. Stairway To The Stars
96. Dancing In The Dark (Live At The Newport Jazz Festival, 1957)
97. Come Rain Or Come Shine
98. Alfie (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
99. Granadas
100. 'Round Midnight (Live At The Trident / 1964)
101. Night Images
102. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away) (Live At The
Village Vanguard / 1967)
103. I Believe In You
104. Blue Interlude (C Minor Prelude Opus 28)
105. I Loves You Porgy (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
106. Gone With The Wind (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
107. I'm All Smiles
108. Turn Out The Stars (Live At The Village Vanguard, 1967)
109. Valse
110. Angel Face
111. Funkallero
112. Lover Man
113. The Washington Twist
114. The Two Lonely People
115. A Moment Alone
116. Quiet Now (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
117. 'Deed I Do (Live At The Trident Club / 1964 / Version 2)
118. My Man's Gone Now
119. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) (Live At Town Hall, New York
City/1966)
120. Night And Day (Alternate Take)
121. Autumn Leaves
122. Embraceable You (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
123. My Heart Stood Still (Alternate Take)
124. Beautiful Love (Live At Town Hall, New York City, 1966)
125. The Shadow Of Your Smile
126. As Time Goes By
127. Con Alma
128. Litha
129. Nardis (Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968)
130. My Funny Valentine (Alt. Take)
131. Time Out For Chris


 moreBorn and raised in New Jersey, Evans was recruited for Southeastern
Louisiana University on a flute scholarship, where he received a thorough
background in theory, played in the marching band, and also led his football
team to a league championship as a quarterback. Graduating as a piano major in
1950, he started to tour with the Herbie Fields band, but the draft soon
beckoned, and Evans was placed in the Fifth Army Band near Chicago. After three
years in the service, he arrived in New York in 1954, playing in Tony Scott's
quartet and undertaking postgraduate studies at Mannes College, where he
encountered composer George Russell and his modal jazz theories. By 1956, he had
already recorded his first album as a leader for Riverside, New Jazz
Conceptions, still enthralled by the bop style of Bud Powell but also unveiling
what was to become his best-known composition, "Waltz for Debby," which he wrote
while still in the Army.

In spring 1958, Evans began an eight-month gig with the Miles Davis Sextet,
where he exerted a powerful influence upon the willful yet ever-searching
leader. Though Evans left the band that autumn, exhausted by pressured
expectations and anxious to form his own group, he was deeply involved in the
planning and execution of Davis' epochal Kind of Blue album in 1959,
contributing ideas about mood, structure, and modal improvisation, and
collaborating on several of the compositions. Although the original release gave
composition credit of "Blue in Green" to Davis, Evans claimed he wrote it
entirely, based on two chords suggested by Davis (nowadays, they receive
co-credit).

Evans returned to the scene as a leader in December 1958 with the album
Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which included the famous "Peace Piece," a haunting
vamp for solo piano that sounds like a long-lost Satie Gymnopédie. Evans'
first working trio turned out to be his most celebrated, combining forces with
the astounding young bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian in three-way
telepathic trialogues. With this group, Evans became a star -- and there was
even talk about a recording with Davis involving the entire trio. Sadly, only
ten days after a landmark live session at the Village Vanguard in June 1961,
LaFaro was killed in an auto accident -- and the shattered Evans went into
seclusion for almost a year. He re-emerged the following spring with Chuck
Israels as his bassist, and he would go on to record duets with guitarist Jim
Hall and a swinging quintet session, Interplay, with Hall and trumpeter Freddie
Hubbard.

Upon signing with Verve in 1962, Evans was encouraged by producer Creed Taylor
to continue to record in more varied formats: with Gary McFarland's big band,
the full-orchestra arrangements of Claus Ogerman, co-star Stan Getz, and a
reunion with Hall. The most remarkable of these experiments was Conversations
with Myself, a session where Evans overdubbed second and third piano parts onto
the first; this eventually led to two sequels in that fashion.

By 1966, Evans had paired with Puerto Rican bassist Eddie Gomez and formed a
trio with drummer Jack DeJohnette. Though short-lived, the group garnered
attention, picking up a Grammy Award for the 1968 concert album Bill Evans at
the Montreux Jazz Festival. That same year, DeJohnette left to be replaced by
Marty Morell. This version of Evans' trio continued to work for a decade,
releasing albums like 1969's What's New and 1971's Grammy-winning The Bill Evans
Album. Evans also picked up a Grammy in 1970 for his solo piano date Alone.

In his only concession to the emerging jazz-rock scene, Evans dabbled with the
Rhodes electric piano in the 1970s but eventually tired of it, even though
inventor Harold Rhodes had tailored the instrument to Evans' specifications. He
recorded further trio sessions with Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund before
launching a final trio in the late '70s with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer
Joe La Barbera. Often considered one of the pianist's best configurations since
the LaFaro-Motian team, their brief time together was documented on 1979's
Grammy-winning We Will Meet Again, also featuring trumpeter Tom Harrell and
saxophonist Larry Schneider.

By the late '70s, Evans' health was rapidly deteriorating, aggravated by long
periods of heroin and cocaine addiction. He died on September 15, 1980, at Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 51 years old. Along with a 1994 Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award, a flood of unreleased recordings from commercial and
private sources helped to further elevate interest in Evans' work. Turn Out the
Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings arrived in 1996, followed by 2000's
The Last Waltz, recorded at Keystone Korner in 1980. Resonance Records also
released three archival albums featuring Evans' late-'60s trio: 2016's Some
Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest, 2018's Another Time: The
Hilversum Concert, and 2020's Live at Ronnie Scott's. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Related artists