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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 |
|---|
| 1. Emily |
| 2. Witchcraft |
| 3. Yesterdays |
| 4. Round Midnight |
| 5. My Funny Valentine |
| 6. California Here I Come |
| 7. Gone With The Wind |
| 8. Alfie |
| 9. Turn Out The Stars |
| Disc: 2 |
| 1. Yesterdays |
| 2. Emily (Alternate Version) |
| 3. In A Sentimental Mood |
| 4. Round Midnight (Alternate Version) |
| 5. Autumn Leaves |
| 6. Someday My Prince Will Come |
| 7. Mother of Earl |
| 8. Here's That Rainy Day |
Editorial Reviews
*A newly unearthed discovery of Bill Evans, recorded in Greenwich Village
on October 23, 1968, includes two complete, never before released concerts!*
Deluxe two-CD Digipak
Contains 28-page booklet with essays by Nat Hentoff, Gary Burton, Eddie
Gomez, Marty Morell, George Klabin & Art D Lugoff s son, Raphael D Lugoff.
Includes iconic photos by Tom Copi, Jan Persson, Raymond Ross, Fred Seligo,
and Herb Snitzer. Interesting historical documents includes contracts,
postcards, family photos, and more.
All previously unheard performances. The only Evans recording released from
The Village Gate! Digitally remastered from the original tapes; recorded
and mixed live, providing stellar sound & clarity. Features rare tracks (in
some cases recorded live with the Bill Evans trio for the very first time).
*Featured Artists*
Bill Evans: piano
Eddie Gomez: bass
Marty Morell: drums
on October 23, 1968, includes two complete, never before released concerts!*
Deluxe two-CD Digipak
Contains 28-page booklet with essays by Nat Hentoff, Gary Burton, Eddie
Gomez, Marty Morell, George Klabin & Art D Lugoff s son, Raphael D Lugoff.
Includes iconic photos by Tom Copi, Jan Persson, Raymond Ross, Fred Seligo,
and Herb Snitzer. Interesting historical documents includes contracts,
postcards, family photos, and more.
All previously unheard performances. The only Evans recording released from
The Village Gate! Digitally remastered from the original tapes; recorded
and mixed live, providing stellar sound & clarity. Features rare tracks (in
some cases recorded live with the Bill Evans trio for the very first time).
*Featured Artists*
Bill Evans: piano
Eddie Gomez: bass
Marty Morell: drums
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Music
Historic Performances Captured More Than 40 Years Ago
Art D'Lugoff opened The Village Gate in 1958 with the idea of seeking out the the hottest talent, hosting prominent jazz artists, including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, and Miles Davis, as well as the best in comedy, including Bill Cosby, Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, and John Belushi. he turned away Bob Dylan, but gave him practice space in the basement. He fired a young Dustin Hoffman for providing poor table service. Playwright Sam Shepard once bused tables. For the next 3 and a half decades `The Gate' was a Jazz Mecca. If you got invited to play The Gate, you were somebody, or you were going to be somebody.
A few years after opening The Gate, and building on the success of the venue, he opened up a club upstairs, The Top Of The Gate. On a cool fall night in 1968, D'Lugoff had managed to book the great Thelonious Monk Quartet and The Charles Lloyd Quartet in The Village Gate. Upstairs, there was only one piano player that could top the legendary Thelonious Monk and that was Bill Evans. And on this same night Evans brought with him one of jazz's greatest ever trios, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell.
In the audience that night was a 22 year old George Klabin who was invited to come down to the club and record 2 sets of the trio. This wasn't all that unheard of, a jazz lover being allowed to record live sets in clubs and as I have dozens of records to attest, it was usually disappointing at best and even disastrous on occasion.
I have dozens of "long lost live sets", that sound like they were recorded by a microphone hidden in a trash can at the back of the room. I have terrible recordings of all the greats; Dizzy, Parker, Monk, and even Miles. It's gotten to where I stopped buying live jazz recordings from the mid-seventies back without hearing them first. But Klabin, despite his age and maybe because of it, was driven to record the trio with the best technique a young budding recording engineer could at the time. Given unprecedented access to the stage and the artists by longtime manager, Helen Keane, Klabin meticulously placed separate mics on each member of the trio. What he got was a mix that is so clean that it nearly sounds as if it was done in a studio. It really is the next best thing to front row seats. It may even be the cleanest, lushest live recording of Evans ever captured.
Evans is perhaps the most important jazz pianist in post WWII jazz. He was known for reinterpreting jazz standards, but in a new way with liberal use of impressionist harmony, and his trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines. This is at the forefront from the opening notes in the intro to the standard, "Emily" which ring out with a quiet brilliance as the background murmurs and tinkling of silverware of the assembled diners can be heard quieting in the background.
When Evans played this date, the great Eddie Gomez had been with him for two years, but amazingly - as the two sets will prove out - Morell had quite literally joined the trio that week. As is apparent, the trio quickly meshed under Evans leadership and vision. Here, they are at the top of their game, both collectively and as individuals playing within the frame work of Evans interpretations. Just take a listen to the way the bass and drum lock onto each other, then interact on the second set (disk 2) "Autumn Leaves". For more evidence check out the two versions of the three songs played in both sets on both disks; "Emily", "Yesterdays" and "'Round Midnight". It's a rare opportunity to hear the diverging takes on the same tune on the same night.
As producer Zev Feldman points out, several selections offered here possess historic significance; both "My Funny Valentine" and "Here's That Rainy Day" (and possibly "Mother Of Earl") mark Evans first documented trio performances of those songs, while "Here's That Rainy Day" may be the first time Evans recorded the piece, period.
If all that doesn't entice you into acquiring this album, the take note. Feldman and Klabin have worked very hard to assemble the historic and never heard before music with important context. the packaging alone, along with it's thick booklet of photos, information, notes from the evening written by Klabin (who is the Executive Producer and worked on mixing and restoration of his tapes) as well as the reminiscences of the two surviving players; Gomez and Morell, offering reflections of not only that night, but their entire time with Evans. Klabin also explains his methods of recording the two sets and restoring the tapes and Raphael D'Lugoff looks back at growing up in the two monuments to jazz that his father created. The booklet alone is worth the price, and that may be perfect as the music is indeed, priceless.
The Dirty Lowdown
Art D'Lugoff opened The Village Gate in 1958 with the idea of seeking out the the hottest talent, hosting prominent jazz artists, including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, and Miles Davis, as well as the best in comedy, including Bill Cosby, Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, and John Belushi. he turned away Bob Dylan, but gave him practice space in the basement. He fired a young Dustin Hoffman for providing poor table service. Playwright Sam Shepard once bused tables. For the next 3 and a half decades `The Gate' was a Jazz Mecca. If you got invited to play The Gate, you were somebody, or you were going to be somebody.
A few years after opening The Gate, and building on the success of the venue, he opened up a club upstairs, The Top Of The Gate. On a cool fall night in 1968, D'Lugoff had managed to book the great Thelonious Monk Quartet and The Charles Lloyd Quartet in The Village Gate. Upstairs, there was only one piano player that could top the legendary Thelonious Monk and that was Bill Evans. And on this same night Evans brought with him one of jazz's greatest ever trios, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell.
In the audience that night was a 22 year old George Klabin who was invited to come down to the club and record 2 sets of the trio. This wasn't all that unheard of, a jazz lover being allowed to record live sets in clubs and as I have dozens of records to attest, it was usually disappointing at best and even disastrous on occasion.
I have dozens of "long lost live sets", that sound like they were recorded by a microphone hidden in a trash can at the back of the room. I have terrible recordings of all the greats; Dizzy, Parker, Monk, and even Miles. It's gotten to where I stopped buying live jazz recordings from the mid-seventies back without hearing them first. But Klabin, despite his age and maybe because of it, was driven to record the trio with the best technique a young budding recording engineer could at the time. Given unprecedented access to the stage and the artists by longtime manager, Helen Keane, Klabin meticulously placed separate mics on each member of the trio. What he got was a mix that is so clean that it nearly sounds as if it was done in a studio. It really is the next best thing to front row seats. It may even be the cleanest, lushest live recording of Evans ever captured.
Evans is perhaps the most important jazz pianist in post WWII jazz. He was known for reinterpreting jazz standards, but in a new way with liberal use of impressionist harmony, and his trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines. This is at the forefront from the opening notes in the intro to the standard, "Emily" which ring out with a quiet brilliance as the background murmurs and tinkling of silverware of the assembled diners can be heard quieting in the background.
When Evans played this date, the great Eddie Gomez had been with him for two years, but amazingly - as the two sets will prove out - Morell had quite literally joined the trio that week. As is apparent, the trio quickly meshed under Evans leadership and vision. Here, they are at the top of their game, both collectively and as individuals playing within the frame work of Evans interpretations. Just take a listen to the way the bass and drum lock onto each other, then interact on the second set (disk 2) "Autumn Leaves". For more evidence check out the two versions of the three songs played in both sets on both disks; "Emily", "Yesterdays" and "'Round Midnight". It's a rare opportunity to hear the diverging takes on the same tune on the same night.
As producer Zev Feldman points out, several selections offered here possess historic significance; both "My Funny Valentine" and "Here's That Rainy Day" (and possibly "Mother Of Earl") mark Evans first documented trio performances of those songs, while "Here's That Rainy Day" may be the first time Evans recorded the piece, period.
If all that doesn't entice you into acquiring this album, the take note. Feldman and Klabin have worked very hard to assemble the historic and never heard before music with important context. the packaging alone, along with it's thick booklet of photos, information, notes from the evening written by Klabin (who is the Executive Producer and worked on mixing and restoration of his tapes) as well as the reminiscences of the two surviving players; Gomez and Morell, offering reflections of not only that night, but their entire time with Evans. Klabin also explains his methods of recording the two sets and restoring the tapes and Raphael D'Lugoff looks back at growing up in the two monuments to jazz that his father created. The booklet alone is worth the price, and that may be perfect as the music is indeed, priceless.
The Dirty Lowdown
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
When "lost" tapes of Bill Evans' performances resurface: Joy in Jazzville
June 16, 2012
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I read about this "new" recording in the Wall Street journal about a week before it was released, I knew I had to have it. I pre-ordered it on this reviewer statement alone: "This is comparable to The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 recordings". Well, VV is one of my favorite jazz recordings of all time and it didn't seem possible it could be duplicated, but I felt that even if Top of the Gate would only come close, it would still be a "must have" recording. I have to agree that this is comparable to, but not as good as, the VV recordings. That's because by any standard, this is an incredible assembly of great songs of one of the greatest jazz pianists ever on a remarkably clean and efficient recording. What makes it unlike the VV recordings is that it seems to be forced. The bass lines of Eddie Gomez are steady and strong, but they lack the "floatiness" and musicality that Scott LaFaro added to Evans' earlier trio. Likewise with the drums, Marty Morrell does an admirable job of supporting and pushing, sometimes even masterfully driving the music, but he lacks the flow and inventiveness of Paul Motian. Don't get me wrong: this is a great, great recording, and it does have a lot going for it. First of all, I got to hear Bill Evans play a number of songs I'd never heard him play before, including `Round Midnight, My Funny Valentine, and In a Sentimental Mood (one of the most rushed songs on this set). Second, I got to hear him play a number of familiar renditions in a far different, broader, I'll even say experimental manner, such as Witchcraft and Autumn Leaves. The packaging for this set is attractive and informative, and the recording, even in a live setting, is near flawless. (No wonder the man behind the tape machine, George Klabin, was later able to start his own recording company.) I'm very glad I bought this set. It has really broadened my jazz collection and my vision of Bill Evans, and it moves right up to the top of my current playlist. This is no Village Vanguard, but it is a wonderful, inspiring, relaxing, joyous, and uncompromising look at Bill Evans at (almost) his best.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Music
Five CLASSIC Stars! Brilliant Bill Evans with one of his best trios. This Bill Evans Trio treasure trove from 23 October 1968 is a major discovery that captures the legendary piano virtuoso, the blazing bass of Eddie Gomez, and master drummer Marty Morell at Art D'Lugoffs "Top of the Gate" in vivid stereo sound with Evans' piano front and center. This 2-set recording includes songs from the great American songbook, 2 movie theme songs, Monk and Ellington classic ballads, and one of Evans' notable originals, among the 17 tracks. At the beginning of set 1, a joyful, buoyant "Emily" immediately sends us back 43 years with Bill reeling off mighty, melodic statements that are highly inventive and crystal clear, with a relaxed intensity that was an Evans trademark. The performances from song to song are consistently excellent with "Emily", "Round Midnight", and "Yesterdays" getting a second reading in set 2. Some highlights are the "Emily" of set 2 which has a more blue, rhapsodic beginning that also shifts gears into a faster tempo of improvisation. "Witchcraft" features Evans spinning dancing single lines and block chords as Gomez provides multi-note supporting 'commentary' and a dazzling solo, with Morell shifting between brushes and drum sticks. The ballads "Turn Out The Stars", "Alfie" and "Here's That Rainy Day" are pure swinging beauty. Bill even turns "California Here I Come" into a unique, swinging affair. This recording is a distinguished collector's addition to the Evans discography that should thrill old and new Bill Evans fans alike. It comes with an impressive accompanying booklet of essays, memorabilia, and photographs. This recording is also being issued in CD and LP vinyl editions. Bill Evans is one of the most influential artists in jazz history, leaving his mark on generations of jazz stars, some of whom later joined him in the DownBeat Hall of Fame. My Highest Recommendation. Five BIG Stars! (This review is based on an mp3 download of 17 tracks: Recorded by George Klabin. Time 89min:18sec. Trivia: this recording was previously played once on radio before the tapes were placed in storage. Charles Lloyd and Thelonious Monk were alternating downstairs at the Village Gate when this recording was made. I actually saw this Bill Evans Trio at the 'Top of the Gate' around 1972 on a New Year's Eve.)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Bill Evans
The live recording restoration is good, like you're sitting right there in the club--as I remember. A few tunes get different treatments in the second set, sounding out his new... Read more
Published 1 month ago by bunny
2.0 out of 5 stars
A bit frantic
I was at Top of the Gate in Sept or October of 1968 and heard this trio live. It wasn't until I read about this new release that I thought much about having been there. Read more
Published 2 months ago by David Lawrence
4.0 out of 5 stars
Music Is Very Good, Sonics the Same
This is not Evans at his most introspective. This is more of the upbeat Evans, as the Top Of The Gate was a supper club and, believe it or not, the 2nd tier club to the Village... Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Bellin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing better !
If you like bill Evans you will love this. The recording is fabulous. I am glad we still have great music to listen to.
Published 3 months ago by andy
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem well worth adding to your collection
This brilliantly recorded and produced double CD set of Bill's phenomenal trio with Eddie Gomez on bass, and Marty Morell (a recent Trio addition) on drums is a real gem. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jim Friedman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bill Evans is one of my heroes.
I have not had sufficient listening time yet to love it, but this is an important addition to my jazz CD collection.
Published 6 months ago by Gavin Franklin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why does a pianist have to have a singer?
As a great fan of Bill Evans for decades, I greatly enjoyed this album, but as with the great Laurence Hobgood (The Union), it seems Bill Evans also picked a singer I could do... Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Teufel
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have.
If you are a Bill Evans fan, this is a must have. The recording makes you fill like you are at the front table. Great music and a great recording.
Published 7 months ago by Mike's picks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Serendipity
The Sam Goody record store that used to be on 49th and Broadway had sales help that knew their stuff. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jay
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime performer and package
It's rare that I declare anything as described in my title.It's also rare to come across something newly discovered that is actually professionally recorded live in a club without... Read more
Published 8 months ago by collinataylor
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