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BILL EVANS
Live in London

Live in London
(Harkit Records HRKCD 8058)
Harkit Records

Beautiful Love Love is Here To Stay Spring Is Here Someday My Prince Will Come Who Can I Turn To Nardis Detour Ahead My Romance Bill's Play-off Music Interview Excerpt with Bill Evans

Bill Evans, piano; Chuck Israels, bass; Larry Bunker, drums
Recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London in March 1965.
Recorded by Les Tomkins
This CD has never been issued before!

...As for the music—it speaks for itself, but somehow it holds the magic of an ultra–special occasion. Beautiful Love is an example of Bill's choosing songs that are more likely to be sung than played, and extracting his own beauty from them. Often delivered in its original ballad form, Love Is Here To Stay is treated to a lively medium exploration.

For those who tend to associate Bill with romantic ballads, Spring Is Here is a sample, done maximum justice to. For the ¾–ish Some Day My Prince Will Come, from Disney's songbook, I quote Peter Pettinger: "This high spot pushes hard up to the beat all the way, erupting into a moto perpetuo of scurrying runs that are all tortured shape and meaning". Thank you, Peter.

After an out–of–time opening, Who Can I Turn To? goes somewhere else. Its inclusion may well have been a nod to Britain and the Newley musical. Nardis is no doubt in tribute to his one–time leader, Miles. Detour Ahead has some evocative words, but the Trio do wonders with its melody.

Would you believe that My Romance is usually dealt with in a lush, dreamy manner? Bill's play–off music is a brief amalgam of several bebop standards—answers on a postcard, please. Above all, these tracks illustrate the fertile imagination of a jazz genius, and the remarkable rapport of an exceptional Trio. Regrettably, none of Bill's own sparkling compositions occur in this selection, but don't go away.

Extract from the CD cover notes by Les Tomkins.

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