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BILL EVANS IN NORWAY / Come Rain or Come Shine (Arlen-Mercer). What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? (Legrand-A. & M. Bergman). 34 Skidoo (Bill Evans). Turn Out the Stars (Bill Evans). Autumn Leaves (Kosma-Mercer-Prévert). Quiet Now (Denny Zeitlin). So What (Miles Davis). Gloria’s Step (Scott LaFaro). Emily (Mandel-Mercer). Midnight Mood (Zawinul-Raleigh). Who Can I Turn To? (Bricusse-Newley). Some Other Time (Bernstein-Comden-Green). Nardis (Miles Davis) / Bill Evans, pno; Eddie Gomez- bs; Marty Morell, dm / Elemental Records 5990 517 (Live: Kongsberg, Norway, 6/26/1970)
Here is yet another Bill Evans Trio album in the usual vein: a bunch of tonal standards of the time (1960s) mixed in with some equally tonal or modal jazz pieces, some by Evans himself and some by former bandmates Miles Davis and Scott La Faro. The mold was so set in concrete that not even Evans himself could escape it; when he tried doing something on the cutting edge, such as George Russell’s Living Time album, he was excoriated by his fans and told that f he EVER dared do something like that again they would stop listening to him.
The fact that he was often, but not always, able to come up with fresh ideas in this stale repertoire speaks volumes for his creativity, yet one can understand why there were nights when he simply didn’t feel like going through with his gigs. But when he did, there were often a few surprises in store, particularly in his highly creative way of re-harmonizing everything he played. And when he was inspired, as he is in the last two-thirds of this set, there were few better than he.
In my personal view, Eddie Gomez was the best bassist Evans ever worked with after the death of LaFaro, as he proves on this album. I was never lucky enough to see Evans in person, but I did see Gomez in, believe it nor not, an all-solo-bass concert he gave at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in the early 1980s, and trust me, he had you on the edge of your seat from first note to last. Just playing solo bass. I really can’t think of too many others in his class.
Once in a while, Evans improvises on the melodic line, but to my ears only in spurts. By and large, the first third of this concert isn’t quite up to the level of the commercially-issued Tokyo Concert with this same trio or the remarkable Live at Ronnie Scott’s album issued previously by Resonance Records in which Marty Morell, a good drummer, was replaced by the more imaginative Jack DeJohnette. Indeed, in many of the tracks you will find that it’s primarily the “Bill & Eddie Show,” which is clearly good enough to hold your interest.
There are some weak performances here, particularly of Michel Legrand’s simple, maudlin tune What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, Quiet Now, Who Can I Turn To? and others in that vein. These songs have very little in their harmonic sequence to inspire even a Bill Evans, but they were popular and he could coast in them while pleasing his audience, so what the heck. Nonetheless, the difference between his somnambulant playing of these turkeys and the way he attacks his own 23 Skidoo, for instance, is obvious, and he does wonders with Autumn Leaves, doubling the usual tempo and driving it fairly hard, with an absolutely great, extended a cappella solo from Gomez (listen to this a couple of times through, and listen carefully; you won’t believe your ears). Having a tune Evans could manipulate and transform chorus to chorus brought out the best in him.
There are several tracks in this set, 23 Skidoo among them, where Morell’s playing is really fine, and he didn’t fall into the trap so many modern jazz drummers do of constantly trying to break up the rhythm, even within a bar, in a way that not only doesn’t match what the other musicians are playing but actually distracts from and distorts the music. This version of LaFaro’s Gloria’s Step is particularly joyous and full of life. It’s also one of the few tracks where the trio interacts as one, and here, with Gomez driving the rhythm, Morell has a little fun on his own. But again, it is Gomez’ solo that rivets one’s attention; he does so much in such a short period of time, including the most difficult feat of all—creating a coherent musical structure—that one is left dumbfounded. According to Marc Myers in the liner notes, Evans really appreciated Norwegian audiences for their serious attention to his playing as well as their reserve, and it was for them (because they have even less sunlight in the winter than we Americans do) that he programmed the moody ballad pieces. Yet the playing miraculously becomes livelier and more inventive as the set progresses: note, particularly, this hard-swinging rendition of Johnny Mandel’s Emily.
By this time the trio is really swinging hard on each and every track; either the Norwegians had inspired him or vice-versa, but either way we suddenly find ourselves in the thick of a great concert. Evans even finds a few new wrinkles in the afore-mentioned Who Can I Turn To? (with some additional folds thrown in by Gomez) which he also ups the tempo on . Yes, I would have enjoyed this set a bit more had he played some of his more adventurous compositions, but I’ve heard so many recent releases by modern-day jazz musicians considered to be creative and innovative who can’t come close to what Evans and Gomez do here. Leonard Bernstein’s Some Other Time is another ballad, but coming as it does just before the uptempo closer, Nardis, it provides a bit of a breather.
Thus what started out as a so-so set ends up being a gem. Serious musicians will want to listen to and study both Evans’ and Gomez’ solos here, and for good reason.
—© 2024 Lynn René Bayley