BILL EVANS: ‘Everybody Digs Bill Evans’ (Riverside/Contemporary Records)

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1959 was a remarkable year in the history of modern jazz because it yielded four highly influential and enduringly popular albums: Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue, Charles Mingus’ Mingus Ah Um, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape Of Jazz To Come, all classics of the genre. Another landmark jazz release that year, though often overlooked, was the second album by a bespectacled 29-year-old New Jersey pianist with Russian and Welsh ancestry who had contributed majorly to Kind Of Blue: Bill Evans. Fusing elements from classical music – both romanticism and impressionism – with the language of bebop, Evans developed a unique style defined by achingly beautiful melodies and rich harmonies. His debut album, 1956’s New Jazz Conceptions, had caught the ear of the jazz world but it was 1959’s Everybody Digs Bill Evans – and Kind Of Blue, of course – that made him a star. To coincide with this year’s Record Store Day (April 20th), the album is being reissued in a limited-edition mono 180-gram pressing mastered from the original analogue tape by in-demand audio boffin Kevin Gray.

Evans, of course, is renowned for his delicate, pastel-hued ballads but Everybody Digs Bill Evans shows that he could swing, too, as evidenced by the uptempo ‘Oleo’ – a famous Sonny Rollins’ number – and the opening track, ‘Minority’ a hard bop staple driven by Sam Jones’ fast-walking bass and Philly Joe Jones’ crackling drums. While Evans could let rip on occasion and surprise those who had stereotyped him as a ballad player, slower, more pensive songs were where he came into his own. His interpretation of the jazz standard ‘Young And Foolish’ – a song associated with Dean Martin, which Evans would re-record with singer Tony Bennett in 1975 – is simply exquisite. Even more arresting is the self-penned ‘Peace Piece,’ an improvised lone-piano number based on two simple alternating chords, which allows Evans to demonstrate his lyrical approach to the acoustic piano and his savvy use of musical space. What results is irresistibly beautiful; music to get lost in and dream to.    

Like all Craft Recordings’ recent reissues, the album is beautifully presented, housed in a sturdy, high-quality card tip-on sleeve adorned with the original artwork. Gray’s mastering brings out every nuance and detail of the original recording, which 65 years on sounds as fresh as if it was recorded yesterday. If you want to own a copy of this timeless gem, you’d better start queuing outside your record store right now.  

(CW)  5/5

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