The Legend of Bill Evans Grows…45 Years After His Death
Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans (Joplin & Sweeney Music Company), by the Jim Witzel Quartet, is the latest tribute to one of the greatest pianists of all-time. Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, Union County, and died in 1980 at 51, a victim of his own excess. But before he killed himself with drugs, he was known for his complex melodic inventions, influential, introspective, innovative. His lyrical romanticism made what would become the biggest-selling jazz album of all-time, Kind Of Blue, in 1959, with the sextet of Miles Davis. But he was a searcher and left Miles within months to form his legendary trio with bassist Scott LeFaro and drummer Paul Motian. It would set the standard of jazz piano trios to this day.
Many tributes have been recorded, including solo piano, small group, big-band, but this one is different. Jim Witzel is a guitarist and approaches these selections from a different perspective. He’s got Emmy Award-winning pianist Phil Aaron to play the role of Bill Evans. And the bass-drums tandem of Dan Feiszli-Jason Lewis sticks to them like a second skin. Taken from the Evans trio of ’59 to ’62, the tracks, by Miles, by Evans, by Maestro Leonard Bernstein, are all closely associated with Bill Evans.
It's tough to pick a highlight out of these nine stand-out selections, but “Peri’s Scope,” a track that Evans wrote for his girlfriend, has an ironic happy bounce that jumps from Latin to Swing. Ironic because his girlfriend was Black and in 1950s America, they couldn’t even book a hotel room as an inter-racial couple.