[SACD-R][OF] Bill Evans Trio – Explorations - 1961/2004 (Jazz)

When Bill Evans left the seminal Miles Davis Sextet at the end of 1958, he turned permanently to leading his own trio, thereby influencing & enriching the whole course of contemporary jazz piano. This recording, made when his 1st group had been together for a full year, brilliantly demonstrates his innovative concept of “simultaneous improvisation” with legendary bassist Scott LaFaro.

Biog:
Few musicians seemed less likely to make an impact on the New York jazz scene in the late 50s than Bill Evans(1929-80), whose introspective solos & delicate touch were far removed from what was commonly considered “hard bop.” Yet Evans was indeed heard, & quickly became one of the most influential musicians on any instrument of the last 40 years.

Evans was born in Plainfield, New Jersey & attended Southeastern Louisiana University. After a period in the Army, he returned to New York in 1955 & began working & recording with Tony Scott & George Russell. His subtly swinging, lucidly constructed solos with these leaders quickly attracted attention, & provided Evans with an opportunity to begin recording under his own name; but he was modest regarding his gifts, & for a time was reluctant to push himself into the limelight. All this changed after he spent several months during 1958 in Miles Davis’s band, where he played alongside John Coltrane & Cannonball Adderley as well as the trumpeter & became a central figure in Davis’s shift to modal improvisation.

The period with Davis allowed Evans to organize his own trio, which featured bassist Scott LaFaro & drummer Paul Motian by the end of 1959. These 3 players developed a new & more interactive approach to trio playing, one in which all instruments carried melodic responsibilities & functioned as equal voices. LaFaro’s tragic death in a July 1961 highway accident ended the existence of this seminal unit; but not before it had recorded 4 albums, 2 in the studio & 2 at a Village Vanguard performance shortly before the bassist’s death, that influenced several generations of pianists, bassists, & drummers.

While Evans excelled in even more intimate playing situations—he made memorable duet music with guitarist Jim Hall, singer Tony Bennett, & bassist Eddie Gomez, & on more than one occasion created fascinating studio recitals of multi-tracked piano—for the remaining 2 decades of his life, he continued to work in the trio format he had established with LaFaro & Motian. Personnel rarely changed in the Evans trio (Gomez was a member from 1966-1977), & the unit’s repertoire slowly grew to include evocative new originals & worthy standards, as well as the tunes that led to Evans’s initial fame. Despite this consistency of format & material, Evans remained uncommonly inspired, able to reach stunning emotional depths with a quiet lucidity that was unmatched. His lyrical melodic inventions, intricate phrasing, complex voicings, & beautiful touch remain as unmistakable influences on pianists 25 years after his death.

(This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.)