Bill Evans - The Complete Bill Evans On Verve (1997) {18 CD Set Verve 314 527 953-2 rec 1962-1969}

THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE is an 18-disc, 269-track box set featuring every track that Bill Evans recorded for Verve between 1962 and 1969, including 98 previously-unreleased tracks. It includes a 160-page, full-color book. THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package - Boxed and for Best Historical Album. The 18 CDs in this exhaustive set provide a comprehensive picture of Bill Evans from 1962 to 1969, a period when the pianist was both consolidating his fame and sometimes taking his music into untested waters, from unaccompanied piano to symphony orchestra. His work with multitracked solo piano, originally released as Conversations with Myself and the later Further Conversations with Myself, was the most remarkable new format for his introspective music. It gave Evans a way to be all the pianists he could be at once–combining densely chordal, harmonically oblique parts with surprising, rhythmic punctuation and darting, exploratory runs.

Two dates with drummer Shelly Manne, in 1962 and 1966, reveal the stimulus Evans could find in a new playing relationship, as does the final disc with flutist Jeremy Steig. Evans also revisited significant earlier musical relationships. The Village Vanguard recordings from 1967 reunite him with the great drummer Philly Joe Jones, whose extroverted, polyrhythmic approach always worked wonderfully with the pianist's more introverted style. Along with the virtuosic young bassist Eddie Gomez, they make up one of the most stimulating of the many trios that Evans led throughout his career. There's also a superb set of duets with guitarist Jim Hall, another of Evans's most closely attuned musical partners. Evans's recordings with a symphony orchestra are marred by conductor Claus Ogermann's ponderous arrangements, and some false starts and multiple takes will appeal only to completists, but there are tremendous musical riches here. The set is packaged in an unfinished metal box designed to rust into an original object, but Evans's own originality is apparent everywhere.

While its sheer bulk negates its interest to a general audience, The Complete Bill Evans on Verve is an essential library piece for any serious jazz fan or historian. Spanning 18 CDs, 269 tracks and 21 hours, the box set includes all of Evans' recordings for the label between 1962 and 1969, including 19 albums, two previously unreleased albums and 98 previously unreleased tracks. During these years, the pianist made some of his greatest music, including his legendary Village Vanguard sessions, and the set charts all of his changes, as he plays with his trio and as a solo artist, as well as a rare session with a rhythm quartet and strings. While the set itself could be a little more user-friendly – it's encased in a steel box, with a 160-page booklet and an 18-disc fanpack on separate shelves – the music itself is nearly flawless and nearly essential for most serious jazz fans.

The big news about The Complete Bill Evans on Verve is not that it is complete, however important it is to have under one (tin) roof the pianist's enormous output for the label. Nor is the big news the odd packaging, although the package demands comment. The big news is that the box contains 31 previously unissued tracks of Evans with Philly Joe Jones and Eddie Gomez at the Village Vanguard and 34 with Larry Bunker and Chuck Israels at the Trident Club.

Bud Powell and Max Roach, Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, Evans and Philly Joe; magic resulted from those relationships of pianists and drummers. The joy that Evans and Jones found in making music together suffuses the three CDs worth of music they taped with Gomez at the Vanguard on two nights in the summer of 1967. Five versions of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" comprise a chronicle of their affinity as they trade four-bar and then two-bar phrases in controlled outbursts of energy, humor and passion. It is a routine, but a routine built on spontaneity and surprise. There are five cuts of "G Waltz," five of "Emily," four of "California, Here I Come," four of "You're Gonna Hear From Me," four of "Alfie" and several tunes Evans rarely played, including "Happiness is a Thing Called Joe," all fresh and full of adventure in the presence of the rapt Vanguard audience. Gomez, a year into his eleven-year tenure and getting the hang of Evans' music, loosens up and matches Jones' drive. These tracks and 25 of the Evans-Jones-Gomez trio from the same period in Fantasy's "Secret Sessions" box constitute an archive of one of the great jazz partnerships.

In the Trident engagement three years earlier, Bunker's drumming is precise, befitting a premier percussionist. His fires are stoked lower than Jones', but his intensity stimulates both Evans' swing and his lyricism. Israels' playing is some of his most powerful on record. Among pieces Evans rarely or never otherwise played are "'Deed I Do," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and "My Love is an April Song." As in the case of the Vanguard sessions with Jones, a few of these performances were issued on LP. Evans, apparently, wanted none of the Trident date released. It is difficult to imagine why.

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Bill Evans - The Complete Bill Evans On Verve (1997) {18 CD Set Verve 314 527 953-2 rec 1962-1969}

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The other troves of newly unearthed music are from the Trio 64, Stan Getz and From Left To Right sessions. With bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian in Trio 64, there are instructive alternate takes of "Always" and "I'll See You Again." Peacock indicates that he might have developed into the logical successor to Scott LaFaro if he had stayed with Evans. The Getz material consists of unissued takes and fragments including a riotous minute and 19 seconds of him and Evans attempting the Gene Krupa Trio arrangement of "Dark Eyes." It is the only recorded evidence I've heard that Getz was capable of overt humor. Nonetheless, he clearly has fun with Richard Davis, Elvin Jones and Getz in powerhouse performances on several takes of "My Heart Stood Still," "Night and Day" and "Funkallero."

From Left To Right may have been, as Phil Bailey suggests in his session notes, "aimed at the easy-listening audience," but it contained one of the finest solos of Evans' career on "The Dolphin." Mickey Leonard's orchestration in the "after" version of the piece complemented perfectly what Evans played "before." Now we learn that there were seven "before" takes (all here) and that the one used in the album was a doctored breakdown. There were eight takes of "Why Did I Choose You?," four of "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?," three each of several other pieces. Without Evans or producer Helen Keane to ask, it's hard to know why so many were necessary. In the pieces on which he uses electric piano, Evans achieves the impossible; he transmits his unmistakable touch through the electronic keyboard. Leonard's writing is exquisite.

As for the rest of the Verve recordings, there is little to add to what has been said and written about them over the years. Evans is brilliant; playful in the trio sessions with Shelly Manne, reflective in chamber music with Gary McFarland and Jim Hall, the perfect accompanist in the sessions with Monica Zetterlund and Jeremy Steig. His "with Symphony Orchestra" album holds up best because of the success of his originals, "My Bells" and "Time Remembered" and Klaus Ogermann's "Elegia." The Granados, Bach, Chopin and Scriabin pieces are less gripping. The album recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968, with drummer Jack DeJohnette inspired, captures Evans at the pinnacle of his art. It is beautifully remastered.

The three-piano, two-piano and solo albums, Conversations With Myself, Further Conversations With Myself and Alone, are reproduced entirely, with a couple of fragmented takes added to Alone. They are classics of recorded piano, regardless of idiom.

The collection ends with three tracks of Evans performing with Don Elliott at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957, when his first trio album had just been released and he was barely known. The next year he became Miles Davis' pianist. His Riverside albums began to sell. His life, and jazz piano, changed.

Now about the package. Verve's innovations in CD packaging are well known and generally admired. This one is more likely to be notorious. The hinged sheet metal box opens to disclose two interior sections holding a book and another, removable, metal container with the discs. My review copy appears to have spots of rust in places, but that may be part of the design. The corners of the sleeves are riveted into place and pivot out to allow the listener to remove the discs, an action requiring dexterity. With patience, it can be done. The design of the box is reminiscent of that of a block of apartment houses I saw in Bratislava shortly after the Communist regime collapsed in Eastern Europe. The box has sharp edges. It might be well to keep it off of polished wooden surfaces.

The book has 157 pages of discographical information, pictures, essays, session notes and interviews. One interview is of Evans by pianist John Mehegan, another of producer Creed Taylor by Phil Bailey. There are two no-holds-barred discussions led by Bill Kirchner, one with pianists who admire Evans, one with musicians who worked with him. There are many photographs, some apparently new to print, of Evans and his associates and a marvelous one of him, his parents and his brother. The type, as it must be in CD-sized formats, is tiny. Some of it is doubly hard to read because it is in light ink on light or busy backgrounds, a sadism in which art directors seem to delight. Production of the book included the recall of a badly glued batch. That caused delays in the release of the album.

The package could be better. The music could not be.

Personnel includes: Bill Evans (piano); Mickey Leonard (arranger); Monica Zetterlund (vocals); Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Phil Woods (clarinet); Jim Hall, Sam Brown (guitar); Gary Peacock, Ron Carter, Chuck Israels, Eddie Gomez (bass); Ed Shaughnessy, Paul Motian, Elvin Jones, Larry Bunker, Grady Tate, Shelly Manne, Philly Joe Jones, Jack DeJohnette, Marty Morell (drums).

Includes liner notes by Creed Taylor, Chick Corea, Neil Tesser, Phil Bailey, Joseph Laredo and John Mehegan.
Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Polygram Studios).

tracklist:
DISC 1:
01. The Washington Twist
02. Danny Boy
03. Let's Go Back to the Waltz
04. With a Song in My Heart
05. Goodbye
06. I Believe in You
07. Relections in the Park
08. Night Images
09. Tree Patterns
10. Peachtree
11. Misplaced Cowpoke
12. A Moment Alone

DISC 2:
01. 'Round Midnight
02. How About You?
03. Spartacus Love Theme
04. Blue Monk
05. Stella by Starlight
06. Hey, There
07. N.Y.C.'s No Lark
08. Just You, Just Me
09. Bemsha Swing
10. A Sleepin' Bee
11. For Heaven's Sake
12. A Sleepin' Bee
13. Always - (breakdown)
14. Always - (complete take)
15. Always - (master take)
16. Everything Happens to Me
17. Dancing in the Dark
18. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town



DISC 3:
01. I'll See You Again - (breakdown)
02. I'll See You Again - (complete take)
03. I'll See You Again - (master take)
04. Little Lulu - (complete take)
05. Little Lulu - (complete take)
06. Little Lulu - (master take)
07. My Heart Stood Still
08. My Heart Stood Still - (complete take)
09. My Heart Stood Still - (Rehearsal Fragments)
10. My Heart Stood Still - (complete take)
11. My Heart Stood Still
12. My Heart Stood Still - (master take)
13. Grandfather's Waltz - (breakdown)
14. Grandfather's Waltz - (master take)
15. Grandfather's Waltz - (False Start)
16. Grandfather's Waltz - (complete take)
17. Melinda - (master take)
18. Dark Eyes - (Traditional)

DISC 4:
01. Funkallero
02. Funkallero - (master take)
03. But Beautiful - (master take)
04. Theme From the Carpetbaggers
05. Theme From the Carpetbaggers - (complete take)
06. Theme From the Carpetbaggers - (complete take)
07. Theme From the Carpetbaggers - (breakdown)
08. Theme From the Carpetbaggers - (master take)
09. Theme From the Carpetbaggers - (complete take)
10. Night and Day
11. Night and Day - (complete take)
12. Night and Day - (master take)
13. Wnew - (master take)
14. How Deep Is the Ocean?
15. Love Is Here to Stay
16. Baubles, Bangles, And Beads
17. Vamp ("Peace Piece") And Spoken Introduction
18. Nardis
19. Time Remembered
20. Someday My Prince Will Come



DISC 5:
01. What Is This Thing Called Love?
02. Stella by Starlight
03. 'Round Midnight
04. Make Someone Happy
05. Spoken Introduciton and Warmup
06. The Boy Next Door
07. Little Lulu
08. My Love Is an April Song
09. What Kind of Fool Am I?
10. What Is This Thing Called Love?
11. The Touch of Your Lips
12. Spoken Introduction and Warmup
13. The Boy Next Door
14. Time Remembered
15. Stella by Starlight

DISC 6:
01. Deed I Do
02. Baubles, Bangles, And Beads
03. What Kind of Fool Am I?
04. Spoken Introduction and Warmup
05. Come Rain or Come Shine
06. How My Heart Sings
07. Alone Together
08. Israel
09. Spoken Introduction and Warmup
10. Alone Together
11. Make Someone Happy
12. My Love Is an April Song
13. Deed I Do
14. Love Is Here to Stay
15. California, Here I Come
16. Warmup ("These Things Called Changes")
17. What Kind of Fool Am I?



DISC 7:
01. What Is This Thing Called Love
02. Alone Together
03. California, Here I Come
04. Come Rain or Come Shine - (master take)
05. Jag Vet en Deglig Rosa (A Beautiful Rose)
06. Once Upon a Summertime
07. So Long, Big Time
08. Monicas Vals
09. Lucky to Be Me - (master take)
10. Vindarna Sucka (Sorrow Wind)
11. It Could Happen to You - (master take)
12. Some Other Time
13. OM Natten (In the Night)
14. Come Rain or Come Shine - (complete take)
15. Come Rain or Come Shine - (complete take)
16. Lucky to Be Me - (complete take)
17. It Could Happen to You - (complete take)
18. It Could Happen to You - (complete take)
19. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

DISC 8:
01. Israel
02. Elsa
04. Love Is Here to Stay
05. How My Heart Sings
06. Who Can I Turn to (When Nobody Needs Me)?
07. Come Rain or Come Shine
08. If You Could See Me Now
09. Granados
10. Valse (Siciliano in G Minor)
11. Prelude (Prelude #15 in D-Flat Major)
12. Time Remembered
13. Pavane
14. Elegia
15. My Bells
16. Blue Interlude (C-Minor Prelude, Op. 28)



DISC 9:
01. I Should Care
02. Spring Is Here
03. Who Can I Turn to (When Nobody Needs Me)?
05. Solo- In Memory of His Father: Prologue / Story Line / Turn Out The Stars / Epilogue
06. Beautiful Love
07. My Foolish Heart
08. One For Helen

DISC 10:
01. I've Got You Under My Skin
02. My Man's Gone Now
03. Turn Out the Stars
04. Angel Face
05. Jazz Samba
06. All Across the City
07. Simple Matter of Conviction
08. Stella by Starlight
09. Orbit (Unless It's You)
10. Laura
11. My Melancholy Baby
12. I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You
13. Star Eyes
14. Only Child
15. These Things Called Changes



DISC 11:
01. Emily
02. Yesterdays
03. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
04. Funny Man
05. Shadow of Your Smile, The
06. Little Lulu
07. Quiet Now
08. Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe
09. In a Sentimental Mood
10. Re: Person I Knew
11. California, Here I Come
12. Alfie
13. Gone With the Wind
14. Turn Out the Stars
15. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
16. Stella by Starlight

DISC 12:
01. Very Early
02. You're Gonna Hear From Me
03. Emily
04. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
05. 'Round Midnight
06. On Green Dolphin Street
07. If You Could See Me Now
08. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
09. You're Gonna Hear From Me
10. G Waltz
12. Emily
13. Alfie
14. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams



DISC 13:
01. In a Sentimental Mood
02. California, Here I Come
03. You're Gonna Hear From Me
04. Alfie
05. Gone With the Wind
06. Emily
07. G Waltz
08. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
09. In A Sentimental Mood
10. California, Here I Come
11. You're Gonna Hear From Me
14. Emily
15. G Waltz

DISC 14:
01. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
02. On Green Dolphin Street
03. G Waltz
04. You're Gonna Hear From Me
05. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
06. Gone With the Wind
07. Emily
08. G Waltz
09. Spoken Introduction
10. One For Helen
11. A Sleepin' Bee
12. Mother of Earl
13. Nardis
14. Quiet Now



DISC 15:
01. I Loves You, Porgy
02. The Touch of Your Lips
03. Embraceable You
04. Someday My Prince Will Come
05. Walkin' Up
06. Here's That Rainy Day
07. Time For Love
08. Midnight Mood
09. On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
10. Never Let Me Go
11. A Time For Love - (complete take)
12. Midnight Mood: All The Things You Are / Midnight Mood

DISC 16:
01. Straight, No Chaser
02. Lover Man
03. What's New?
04. Autumn Leaves
05. Time Out For Chris
06. Spartacus Love Theme
07. So What
08. Why Did I Choose You?
09. Why Did I Choose You?
10. Why Did I Choose You?
11. Why Did I Choose You?
12. Why Did I Choose You?
13. Why Did I Choose You?
14. Why Did I Choose You?
15. Why Did I Choose You? - (Master Take)



DISC 17:
01. I'm All Smiles
02. Like Someone in Love
03. Children's Play Song
04. Soiree
05. Soiree
06. Soiree
07. Lullaby For Helene
08. Lullaby For Helene
09. Lullaby For Helene
10. Lullaby For Helene
11. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
12. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
13. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
14. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
15. The Dolphin - Before
16. The Dolphin - Before
17. The Dolphin - Before
18. The Dolphin - Before
19. The Dolphin - Before
20. The Dolphin - Before
21. The Dolphin - Before



DISC 18:
01. The Dolphin - Before
02. The Dolphin - After
03. Comrade Conrad
04. Comrade Conrad
05. Comrade Conrad
06. It Must Be Love
07. It Must Be Love
08. It Must Be Love
09. Spoken Introduction
10. Dancing in the Dark
11. I Love You
12. 'S Wonderful