Customer Reviews

Evanessence: Tribute to Bill Evans

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title of this recording says it all: "EVAN ESSENCE." The music herein is indeed as close to the essence of Bill Evans as I can imagine.
Fred Hersch certainly can play in the manner of Bill Evans without being an imitation of Bill. More importantly, he manages to capture the mood of many of Bill's finest recordings.
Of course, you get tunes associated with Bill: "Turn Out The Stars", "You Must Believe in Spring", "Nardis", "Peri's Scope,", etc. The most non-Bill Evans number on the recording is a clever combination of "Nardis" and "Lonely Woman" that really works. It showcases Fred, not Bill.
Fred's regular trio at the time is featured: Jeff Hirshfield, drums, and Marc Johnson, bass. They are fine, and it should be noted that Marc was the bassist in Bill Evans last trio, which was highly regarded.
Fred has added guest soloist Toots Thielemans on harmonica on 3 numbers. Toots is simply magical in getting the essence of Bill Evans in his contributions. Gary Burton is also added on vibes and likewise adds to the proceedings.
I am not a Fred Hersch fanatic. In fact, I sought out more of Fred's recordings after I enjoyed this recording so much. But none recaptured the magic. So why 5 stars? Because this does have magic.