Bill Evans "The Last Waltz" - 8-disc box set recorded live just prior to his death. Terrifico!
A profoundly moving, *unreleased* document of the last days of Bill Evans, one of the great artists of jazz piano. Evans, who knew that his end was near (he died the following week), made every note count in these stirring 1980 performances. Recorded over eight nights at San Francisco's Keystone Corner, these recordings find Bill rethinking, reconfiguring and revitalizing the key pieces of his career, both standards and originals; he plays six versions of ex-employer Miles Davis's Nardis plus But Beautiful; Autumn Leaves; Emily; Mornin' Glory; Letter to Evan , and more. 65 unreleased, incredibly poignant performances on 8 CDs.
With Evans were bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. It was an unusually well-balanced rhythm team for the pianist, perhaps the best combination of talents since he first developed his trio style with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian two decades before. They provide Evans with responsive support that can shift from the quietest underpinnings to aggressive stimulation. There's often a characteristic movement here from introspective solo passages to vigorous trio dialogues that shows just how hard Evans could swing when he had the right drummer.
Largely a final encounter with Evans's key repertoire, the set includes multiple versions of his favorite pieces, like the ballads "But Beautiful," "My Foolish Heart," and "Emily," and his own "Letter to Evan" and "Turn Out the Stars," perennial stimulants for his profound harmonic imagination. But there are also then-recent compositions that never reached the recording studio, like "Yet Ne'er Broken," the repeating "Your Story" with its subtle underlying movement, and "Knit for Mary F." The signature "Nardis" is heard in six different versions, each of them compelling and each a distinct exploration, from a crisp seven-minute version to a concluding performance that stretches to nearly 20. Evans introduces the third version: "We've learned from the potential of the tune, and every once in a while a new gateway opens and it's like therapy." Each of the longer versions is a structure for extended solos by each trio member. Evans's own improvisations are concentrated in extended unaccompanied introductions, stretching to a sublime seven minutes on the final version.
The set is a treasure trove for Evans enthusiasts, inviting close and extended listening and rewarding it with the subtlest inventions and variations. There are rare depths here that represent some of his greatest recorded work. --Stuart Broomer
