Bill Evans

MINI-LP PAPERSLEEVE GATEFOLD REPLICAS WITH OBI

INCLUDES 5 BONUS TRACKS

"Portrait in Jazz" was Bill Evans’ third album as a leader, following "New Jazz Conceptions" (1956) and " Everybody Digs Bill Evans" (1958). It was also Evans’ first LP with the talented bassist Scott LaFaro (although they had both participated on Tony Scott’s LP "Sung Heroes", recorded in October 1959, they barely interacted there).

Their superb chemistry is evident from the very first tune, and Evans was surely aware of that. As opposed to his previous albums, no solo piano selections were included here and the trio is heard throughout the whole LP. The Evans-LaFaro collaboration would reach a climax with their June 1961 club recordings at the Village Vanguard in New York. LaFaro would die in a car accident soon after (on July 6, 1961), at the age of 25. Evans was so shocked by his bassist’s death that he waited a long time before forming a new trio.

The repertoire here consists basically of standards (all of them treated in Evans’ very personal style) plus two originals, “Peri’s Scope” – premiered on "Portrait in Jazz", Evans wouldn’t record it again until 1967 – and “Blue in Green”, which was apparently co-composed by Evans and Miles Davis. Bill first recorded the latter track in March 1959 with the trumpeter for the classic album Kind of Blue. The authorship of “Blue in Green” has been the subject of great controversy, as various sources – including Evans himself– have asserted that “Blue in Green” was mostly his own composition; however, Miles Davis claimed many years later in his autobiography that all of the music from "Kind of Blue" was his.

PERSONNEL:

BILL EVANS, piano
SCOTT LaFARO, bass
PAUL MOTIAN, drums

New York, December 28, 1959.

(*) BONUS TRACKS:

(10): Miles Davis (tp), John Coltrane (ts), Bill Evans (p), Paul Chambers (b),
Jimmy Cobb (d). New York, March 2, 1959.

(11-14): Same personnel as 1-9. Live at Birdland, April 30, 1960.

TRACKS:

01. COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
02. AUTUMN LEAVES
03. WITCHCRAFT
04. WHEN I FALL IN LOVE
05. PERI’S SCOPE
06. WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?
07. SPRING IS HERE
08. SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME
09. BLUE IN GREEN
10. BLUE IN GREEN [from Kind of Blue] (*)
11. COME RAIN OR COME SHINE [Live] (*)
12. NARDIS [Live] (*)
13. BLUE IN GREEN [Live] (*)
14. AUTUMN LEAVES [Live] (*)

TOTAL TIME: 73:33 Min.