Invoice Evans – Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965–1969)

(Elemental Music 5990444. Album assessment by Julian Maynard-Smith)

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Followers of Invoice Evans are hardly in need of current materials, what with reissues, compilations and ‘newly found rarities’ including to an already bulging discography – to not point out that Evans obsessively revisited a handful of tunes time and again, yr after yr. Decide up any stay recording of any incarnation of the Invoice Evans Trio and the percentages are good that you simply’ll discover a model (or two) of Waltz for Debby, Time Remembered or Nardis.

And so it’s with these beforehand unissued ‘solo, trio and orchestra recordings from Denmark (1965–1969)’ on which all of these tunes seem plus just a few different Evans favourites, with 4 variations of Time Remembered alone. And provided that some jazz reissues are cobbled-together bootlegs with a scratchy, muffled sound high quality to match, the massive query is whether or not these recordings are (to make use of that almost all damning of clichés) ‘for completists solely’.

The primary indicator that this assortment is price investing in is the packaging: both a triple-gatefold double CD with a 56-page booklet, or a limited-edition triple LP on 180g vinyl. In addition to the standard ‘observe itemizing, personnel and recording dates’ sort data, the booklet is filled with uncommon images, interviews with (or articles on) the musicians concerned, and different insightful articles equivalent to an evaluation of Invoice Evans’s time in Denmark. (The photograph on the booklet’s cowl has been reversed, judging by the migration of Evans’s hair parting from left aspect to proper – however irrespective of.) The second indicator of a worthwhile funding is that the credit within the booklet embody two individuals who labored on ‘sound restoration’ – and provided that the recordings are from tapes of sixties radio broadcasts, they’ve finished a great job. The sound is clear with no audible hiss, dropouts, hums, scratches or pops.

There’s loads of music too, with loads of selection: two hours and 18 minutes comprising one solo set, 4 pure trio performances with various bassists and drummers, and a trio augmented by a symphony orchestra and large band. Traditionally and musically, it’s intriguing to listen to how Evans responds to those totally different settings, particularly as he’s largely credited with reworking the piano trio from ‘soloist on high of rhythm part’ into the three-way conversations we these days take without any consideration – which means he typically sounds very attentive to the power and personalities of his co-contributors.

We begin with a trio set from the Copenhagen Jazz Pageant (October 1965), with Danish Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson on bass and American Alan Dawson on drums. NHØP was solely nineteen on the time of the recording, however precociously proficient; and as bassist for the home band of Copenhagen’s Montmartre Jazzhus, he’d constructed his chops enjoying with a number of visiting US stars (even enjoying with Bud Powell when solely sixteen). Dawson too performed for a lot of greats however isn’t practically as properly referred to as he deserved to be (maybe as a result of a again damage in his forties compelled him to surrender performing), and delivers a robust efficiency. General, the dynamics of the Evans/NHØP/Dawson line-up are extra extravert than what one may count on of a Invoice Evans trio – for instance, the opening Come Rain or Shine is muscular and up-tempo, and Sometime My Prince Will Come is cheerful and daring, with Evans enjoying laborious and NHØP delivering a springy but fluid solo.

Subsequent up is a trio set recorded in Holbæk (November 1965) comprising Evans and NHØP once more however with Alex Riel on drums. Like NHØP, Riel was within the Montmartre Jazzhus’s home band on the time, which is certain to have created some constructive chemistry between the 2. Riel sounds a tad much less driving than Dawson and this efficiency feels a bit of extra dreamy and introspective than the primary – however no much less fascinating for that, as attested by (for instance) Riel’s delicate brushwork on the primary of the variations of Time Remembered.

Subsequent, a broadcast from Copenhagen (November 1969) comprising a trio of Evans with Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums, with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra & Danish Radio Large Band, organized and performed by Palle Mikkelborg. Eddie Gomez was the longest serving bassist of any Invoice Evans Trio (1966–77), and Marty Morell a longstanding member too (1968–75), so it’s fascinating to listen to them performing with Evans comparatively early on. Mikkelborg’s preparations haven’t aged in addition to the pure trio performances, the romantic (or cloying – take your decide) strings specifically sounding of their time; however the big-band preparations have aged higher, displaying Mikkelborg’s indebtedness to Gil Evans – particularly on the titular observe Treasures, the place Mikkelborg’s muted trumpet seems like a homage to the then very latest Miles Davis / Gil Evans collaborations of 1957–68.

In marked distinction is an unaccompanied solo set from Invoice Evans (Copenhagen, November 1965), a superb mix of the introspective ballads one would count on of Evans with much less anticipated moments of forceful swinging – even in the identical tune, equivalent to on a brisk model of My Humorous Valentine (a normal on which a lesser musician may need been tempted to wallow in sentimentality).

Subsequent is the Evans/Gomez/Riel trio in Copenhagen (October 1966). It was the yr through which Gomez began his lengthy stint as Evans’s bassist, but it surely sounds virtually as if Gomez is the chief, Evans typically completely satisfied to create space for a bass solo straight after the top and Riel largely within the background – though fairly outstanding on a comparatively quick Nardis that closes the set. Refreshing surprises embody a perky and cheerful tackle In a Sentimental Temper (which, like My Humorous Valentine, is a tune that within the incorrect palms tends in direction of the maudlin).

The ultimate efficiency is the Evans/Gomez/Morell trio in Aarhus (November 1969), a change of drummer and a spot of three years maybe most noticeable in how Morell sounds extra to the fore than Riel – significantly on a brisk model of Autumn Leaves that has a longish bass-drums dialogue from which Evans drops out utterly. The performances additionally sound extra expansive, this trio’s tackle Nardis (once more, closing the set) a prolonged 8:06 versus the three;35 of the earlier set. Not fairly the epic variations of Nardis of Evans’s latter years (which may stretch to twice that size) however maybe an indicator of what was to return.

In abstract, it’s way more than a ‘completists solely’ package deal – Evans followers will discover loads of curiosity, however so too will anybody with even only a passing curiosity in Evans and the chances of the piano trio. And Evans followers may additionally be tempted by the sooner Elemental launch Behind The Dikes – The 1969 Netherlands Recordings, which additionally is offered in 2-CD or 3-LP format plus booklet.

LINK: Purchase Treasures