Bill Evans · I know them well

Deep into Evans

This path runs in order from 1955 to the end of 1960, mostly through sideman dates: Evans with singers, bebop bands, big ensembles and composers looking for something new. Listen for his sound taking shape session by session, before and around the trio that made his name.

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Step 1 of 12
Backing a singer, 1955
The Singing Reed Lucy Reed · Fantasy LP 3-212 · 1956
In July 1955 Evans came back to New York after his army years and enrolled at the Mannes school. In mid-August he spent three days in a New York studio accompanying Lucy Reed, a singer from the Chicago clubs, in a quartet with Howard Collins on guitar, Bob Carter on bass and Sol Gubin on drums. Fantasy issued the songs as The Singing Reed, adding three tracks from Chicago in 1957 that he isn't on. Accounts of the date agree that Evans takes no solos. That makes it a pure lesson in accompaniment, and one of his earliest records.
Start with
- Inchworm
- Little Girl Blue
- My Time Of Day
"Inchworm" is Frank Loesser's song from the film Hans Christian Andersen, "Little Girl Blue" is Rodgers and Hart, and "My Time Of Day" is Loesser again, from Guys and Dolls. With no solos, all your attention can go to what Evans plays behind the voice: the chords he chooses and the space he leaves.
In the band
Lucy Reed · vocal
Lucy Reed was born Lucille Dollinger in Marshfield, Wisconsin, in 1921, and sang on the radio in St. Paul as a teenager. She sang with the Woody Herman and Charlie Ventura bands, then became a fixture of Chicago clubs such as the Lei Aloha and Mister Kelly's, and also sang at the Village Vanguard. She made one more album for Fantasy, This Is Lucy Reed, and died in Chicago in 1998.
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Step 2 of 12
His own first record
New Jazz Conceptions Bill Evans · Riverside RLP 12-223 · 1957
In 1956 guitarist Mundell Lowe played a demo of Evans for Riverside's Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, who then went to hear him at the Village Vanguard. On September 18 and 27, 1956, Evans recorded his debut as a leader at Reeves Sound Studios, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Paul Motian on drums. It was praised in DownBeat and Metronome but sold about 800 copies in its first year. Keith Shadwick heard skill and a gift for writing, but not yet a unified personality. Here are first versions of tunes he would keep, and the first meeting on record with Motian.
Start with
- Waltz For Debby
- Five
- Displacement
"Waltz For Debby", for his niece, is here as a brief piano solo, years before the trio made it famous. "Five" and "Displacement" are Evans originals, as is "No Cover, No Minimum"; "Conception" is George Shearing's. There are three short solo pieces in all: the waltz, Ellington's "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" and "My Romance".
In the band
Teddy Kotick · bass
Teddy Kotick, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1928, was a bassist musicians trusted. He had played with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Horace Silver, and also worked with Billie Holiday, Artie Shaw, Buddy Rich and Phil Woods. He never made an album under his own name, but he turns up on many of the best New York records of the 1950s. He died in 1986.
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Step 3 of 12
With Charles Mingus
East Coasting By Charlie Mingus Charlie Mingus Sextet · Bethlehem BCP-6019 · 1957
On August 16, 1957, Evans was the pianist in Charles Mingus's sextet for a Bethlehem date in New York. He had already played that June with Mingus's larger Jazz Workshop. The band has Clarence Shaw on trumpet, Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Curtis Porter, later known as Shafi Hadi, on saxophones, and Dannie Richmond on drums. Scott Yanow calls it one of Mingus's lesser-known band sessions. It is fascinating to hear Evans inside Mingus's writing, so different from his own, a year before Miles Davis came calling.
Start with
- East Coasting
- Memories Of You
- Celia
"Memories Of You" is the Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf song; the rest are Mingus's own. "Celia" is named for Mingus's wife at the time. On the title track, listen for how Evans's chords sit in a band built around Mingus's bass and Richmond's drums.
In the band
Charles Mingus · bass
Charles Mingus was 35, a bassist who had played with Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington and was now leading his own Jazz Workshop, teaching his players much of his music by ear. Pithecanthropus Erectus had come out the year before, and two years later he made Mingus Ah Um for Columbia. He died in 1979.
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Step 4 of 12
Cool-toned bop with Jimmy Knepper
A Swinging Introduction To Jimmy Knepper Jimmy Knepper Quintet · Bethlehem BCP-77 · 1957
A month later, in September 1957, Evans played on Jimmy Knepper's album for Bethlehem, produced by Lee Kraft, with Knepper's Mingus bandmate Dannie Richmond on drums and Teddy Kotick on bass. Evans plays on six of the nine tracks, the ones with Gene Quill on alto; Bob Hammer is the pianist on the other three. Scott Yanow describes it as cool-toned bop with six standards and three Knepper originals, all given swinging treatment. A small record, but it shows how busy Evans was as a New York sideman in 1957.
Start with
- Love Letters
- Ogling Ogre
- Close As Pages In A Book
"Ogling Ogre" is one of Knepper's three originals. "Love Letters" opens the record, and "Close As Pages In A Book" is a Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Fields song. Listen for Evans behind trombone and alto in a light, swinging quintet.
In the band
Jimmy Knepper · trombone
Jimmy Knepper, born in Los Angeles in 1927, had played in big bands before joining Mingus in 1957, and his fluent, unusual trombone became part of Mingus's sound for the next five years, until a famous falling-out in 1962. He later played in the Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra and Gil Evans's orchestra and in Mingus Dynasty. He died in 2003.
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Step 5 of 12
Accompanist to Helen Merrill
The Nearness Of You Helen Merrill · EmArcy MG-36134 · 1958
On February 21, 1958, Evans was in a New York studio with singer Helen Merrill, Oscar Pettiford on bass, Jo Jones on drums, Bobby Jaspar on flute and Barry Galbraith on guitar. George Russell, the composer Evans had been working with, wrote the arrangements, uncredited, at Merrill's request, according to biographer Peter Pettinger; the sleeve lists Russell on guitar, but Pettinger says Galbraith played. Five of the album's 12 songs come from this date; the rest were recorded with other musicians in December 1957. Merrill later called Evans a wonderful accompanist.
Start with
- The Nearness Of You
- All Of You
- When The Sun Comes Out
Pettinger singles out Merrill's warm, controlled vibrato on this session. Listen to what Evans does around it: his introductions and the fills between her lines, and the flute and guitar parts in Russell's arrangements. The other tracks on the record, without him, make a useful comparison.
In the band
Helen Merrill · vocal
Helen Merrill was born Jelena Ana Milcetic in New York to Croatian parents. Her 1954 debut album for EmArcy had Clifford Brown on trumpet and arrangements by Quincy Jones, and she was a singer musicians admired for her intimacy and taste. She later lived and worked in Italy and Japan, and in 1988 made Collaboration with Gil Evans.
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Step 6 of 12
In Michel Legrand's band
Legrand Jazz Michel Legrand · Columbia CL 1250 · 1959
In the summer of 1958 the young French composer Michel Legrand recorded an album of jazz classics for Columbia in New York, with three different bands. The first, on June 25, 1958, had Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Phil Woods, Herbie Mann, Jerome Richardson, Betty Glamann on harp and Eddie Costa on vibes, with Evans and Paul Chambers from Davis's band and Kenny Dennis on drums. Davis plays on all four tunes from that day. Legrand later remembered Davis standing at the studio door, ready to leave if he didn't like what he heard, and Legrand sweating with nerves.
Start with
- Django
- 'Round Midnight
- The Jitterbug Waltz
These are Legrand's arrangements of jazz tunes: John Lewis's "Django", Monk's "'Round Midnight", Fats Waller's "The Jitterbug Waltz" and Jelly Roll Morton's "Wild Man Blues". On "Django", Davis is the only horn. Listen for Evans in a big, colorful ensemble with harp and vibes, a long way from a trio.
In the band
Michel Legrand · arranger
Michel Legrand, born in Paris in 1932, studied at the Paris Conservatoire, partly with Nadia Boulanger, and had a surprise hit with I Love Paris in 1954. He was a composer and arranger more than a jazz player, and he went on to become one of the great film composers: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, "The Windmills of Your Mind", Summer of '42. He won three Oscars and died in 2019.
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Step 7 of 12
The first "Nardis"
Portrait Of Cannonball Julian Adderley Quintet · Riverside RLP 12-269 · 1958
Six days later, on July 1, 1958, Cannonball Adderley made his first album for Riverside at Reeves Sound, with Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Evans, Sam Jones on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Orrin Keepnews produced. It includes a Miles Davis tune, "Nardis", that Evans recorded here for the first time and went on to play for the rest of his life. AllMusic calls the album one of the highlights of Adderley's hard bop prime, and the Penguin Guide praises Mitchell and the early glimpse of Evans on "Nardis".
Start with
- Nardis
- Minority
- Blue Funk
"Nardis" is the one to hear, the start of a long relationship between Evans and a tune. "Minority" is Gigi Gryce's; Evans liked it enough to record it again with his own trio that December. "Blue Funk" is by Sam Jones. Listen to Evans in a straight hard bop quintet, two horns and a driving rhythm section.
In the band
Blue Mitchell · trumpet
Blue Mitchell, a trumpeter from Miami, was 28 and making his first records for Riverside; his own debut as a leader came the same month. Later in 1958 he joined Horace Silver's quintet and stayed until 1964, playing on records such as Blowin' the Blues Away. He kept a warm, lyrical sound through soul jazz and big band work in later years, and died in 1979.
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Step 8 of 12
Ellington songs with strings
Jump For Joy Cannonball Adderley · EmArcy MG-36146 · 1959
Seven weeks later, on August 20 and 21, 1958, Evans was back with Adderley, this time for EmArcy, with trumpeter Emmett Berry, Barry Galbraith on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums and a string quartet. The songs come from Duke Ellington's 1941 stage musical Jump for Joy. Discographies credit the arrangements to Bill Russo, while Wikipedia gives half of them to Richard Hayman. AllMusic called it very much its own album. It is Evans in a lush, pop-leaning setting, with two of the men he would soon join on Kind of Blue.
Start with
- Jump For Joy
- I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
- Just Squeeze Me
"I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" is the best-known song from the show; Evans had recorded it as a short solo on his first album. "Just Squeeze Me" is Ellington too. Listen for how the small string group and the jazz rhythm section share the space, with Adderley's alto out front.
In the band
Jimmy Cobb · drums
Jimmy Cobb, born in Washington, D.C., in 1929, had drummed for Dinah Washington and in Adderley's own early quintet before joining Miles Davis in 1958. He played on Kind of Blue and stayed with Davis until 1963, then backed Sarah Vaughan for years. He outlived everyone else on Kind of Blue, and died in 2020.
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Step 9 of 12
Ballads with Chet Baker
Chet Chet Baker Sextet · Riverside RLP 12-299 · 1959
On December 30, 1958, and January 19, 1959, at Reeves Sound, Chet Baker made an all-instrumental album of ballads for Riverside, produced by Orrin Keepnews, with Herbie Mann on alto flute, Pepper Adams on baritone, Paul Chambers on bass, and Connie Kay or Philly Joe Jones on drums. Evans plays on all but two tracks. Chambers, Evans and Jones had played together for several weeks in Davis's band in 1958. Pitchfork, reviewing a reissue in 2019, gave it 8.0. It is a chance to hear Evans behind a quiet trumpet, a few weeks after his own second album.
Start with
- Alone Together
- 'Tis Autumn
- You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
All nine tunes are standard ballads. Evans is on "Alone Together" and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" from the first date, with Kay, and on "'Tis Autumn" from the second, with Philly Joe Jones. Listen for the soft blend of trumpet, alto flute and baritone over Evans's chords.
In the band
Chet Baker · trumpet
Chet Baker, born in Oklahoma in 1929, became famous with Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet in Los Angeles in 1952 and then as a singer. By 1958 he was in New York recording for Riverside, his heroin habit already causing trouble; in 1959 he went to Italy, where he was later jailed. He kept playing for three more decades and died in Amsterdam in 1988.
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Step 10 of 12
Five saxophones and a trio
Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre Lee Konitz - Jimmy Giuffre Octet · Verve MGV-8335 · 1959
On May 12 and 13, 1959, three weeks after Kind of Blue was finished, Evans was the pianist on an octet date for Verve: Lee Konitz and Hal McKusick on alto, Warne Marsh and Ted Brown on tenor, Jimmy Giuffre on baritone, with Buddy Clark on bass and Ronnie Free on drums. Giuffre wrote the arrangements, for five saxophones and a trio led by Evans. Scott Yanow hears them as drawing on classical music as much as bop, and AllMusic rates the record highly. This is the cool, intricate side of New York jazz, with Evans at the center of the rhythm section.
Start with
- Palo Alto
- Darn That Dream
- Uncharted
"Palo Alto" is Konitz's tune, and "Uncharted" one of Giuffre's two. "Darn That Dream" is the Van Heusen ballad. Listen to the five saxophones as a section, and for the soloists Konitz and Marsh, both students of Lennie Tristano.
In the band
Jimmy Giuffre · baritone sax
Jimmy Giuffre, born in Dallas in 1921, wrote "Four Brothers" for Woody Herman's band in 1947. He then moved toward quiet, folk-like chamber jazz with his trio, which included Jim Hall, and by 1961 his trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow was playing freely improvised music. He also taught at the Lenox School of Jazz. He died in 2008.
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Step 11 of 12
Konitz with brass
You And Lee Lee Konitz · Verve MGV-8362 · 1960
On October 29 and 30, 1959, Konitz recorded again for Verve, this time with six brass players arranged and conducted by Giuffre, Sonny Dallas on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Evans plays on four tracks; Jim Hall takes the other four on guitar. Every song has "you" in its title. Scott Yanow calls it one of the lesser-known Konitz albums and notes how the brass contrasts with Konitz's cool-toned solos. It is one of the last sideman dates Evans made in the 1950s, two months before his new trio went into the studio.
Start with
- You Don't Know What Love Is
- I Didn't Know About You
- I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
These are three of Evans's four tracks; the fourth is "Everything I've Got Belongs To You". "I Didn't Know About You" is Duke Ellington's. Listen for the piano between the brass and Konitz's alto, and for how Giuffre's writing for trumpets and trombones leaves room for both.
In the band
Lee Konitz · alto sax
Lee Konitz, born in Chicago in 1927, studied with Lennie Tristano and played on Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions, with a light, dry alto sound that set him apart from Charlie Parker's many followers. He kept recording for some 70 years, in every setting from duos to free improvisation, and died in 2020, aged 92.
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Step 12 of 12
Into the third stream
Jazz Abstractions John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music · Atlantic LP 1365 · 1961
On December 19 and 20, 1960, Evans joined a remarkable cast for an Atlantic album produced by John Lewis and Nesuhi Ertegun. Gunther Schuller wrote variations on Lewis's "Django" and Monk's "Criss-Cross" for Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Eddie Costa, a string quartet and, on bass, George Duvivier and Scott LaFaro. Jim Hall plays a piece of his own. It is third stream music, joining jazz and classical composition. AllMusic's Scott Yanow called it one of the most successful third stream efforts. For Evans, it meant reading a composer's score alongside players heading toward free jazz.
Start with
- Variants On A Theme Of John Lewis (Django)
- Variants On A Theme Of Thelonious Monk (Criss-Cross)
Schuller wrote everything except Hall's piece. In the "Django" variants Evans plays with Dolphy, Costa's vibes and flutist Robert DiDomenica; in the "Criss-Cross" variants Ornette Coleman joins, and LaFaro is on bass. Listen for how written passages and improvised solos trade places, with Evans moving between the two.
In the band
Gunther Schuller · French horn
Gunther Schuller, born in New York in 1925, was a French horn player who held the principal chair at the Metropolitan Opera orchestra and played on Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions. He coined the term third stream in 1957 for music joining jazz and classical traditions. He later ran the New England Conservatory and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. He died in 2015.
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Sources

Backing a singer, 1955

His own first record

With Charles Mingus

Cool-toned bop with Jimmy Knepper

Accompanist to Helen Merrill

In Michel Legrand's band

The first "Nardis"

Ellington songs with strings

Ballads with Chet Baker

Five saxophones and a trio

Konitz with brass

Into the third stream

That's all 12.