Customer Reviews

Solo Sessions 2

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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If you dig beauty and want to be taken away by it, this is indeed an appropriate vehicle for such an excursion. On this volume of the solo sessions Bill Evans takes popular tunes and frees the tonality by staying away from the bass of the chord. He also uses the whole tone scale to add more air. Of course his time is impeccable even when its free. I miss the man. I would be happy to shine the shoes of the guy that did the taxes for the guy that tuned his piano.

Before I bought this cd I knew nothing about bill. What I knew was just his name. I also heard he's a genius. I finally got his cd a few days before. It's so right that he lived for his music and his piano. He guide you to his music world and affect your own. A song create a dream. You dream you float you want more. All the songs are remarkable. Santa Clause is coming to Town was lovely.I love you,Porgy and What kind of fool am I? are so gentle even hiding a little sadness. How sensative! How could he make tunes come into lives. I was reading the liner notes while listening. It's by his close friend--Gene Lees. As I read on I know more about bill. Beforehand I thought Bill's still alive, when I knew that Bill had passed away on 1980 Sep. the tears in my eyes prevented me from reading. He left before I was born. What a pity! He should be remembered by jazz lovers.

Bill Evans does it again-- when most solo piano albums turn out to be boring after a few listens, you can always discover something that you haven't heard previously, each time you listen to the CD. The tonality of the CD is more free than Solo Sessions Vol. 1, but still beautiful nonetheless. Evans' version of 'I Loves' You Porgy' is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard, period. Indeed he played piano the way it was meant to be played.

The liner notes of this disc and its companion (Vol I) are very revealing. According to Orrin Keepnews, Evans, a well-known junkie, was needing cash and was "strung-out" (coming down from his heroin high). He had never recorded a solo album, but wanted to try it. Neither Evans or Keepnews (the owner of Riverside Records and the producer of these sessions) liked the output, as it was not as polished and carefully crafted as Evans at his best. In fact, Evans made Keepnews promise to never to release these sessions, a request that Keepnews honored until well after the pianist's death.

These recordings have an emotional power that some of Evans' other recordings don't have. They are unusually raw, they are, however, uneven. There are times that Evans is struggling for ideas.

I love these recordings, and Evans never did a bad one, but these are not his best. His best solo recording is "Alone", recorded for Verve a few years later.

where to begin with such an album?
just leave it to bill evans to create this masterpiece.
for me there were so many bill evan's albums around that i didnt know where to start. this album is a great place to start because you get up close and personal with bill, one on one. after listening to this album twice, you feel like your best friend just told you their entire life story. bill Evans throws all his cards out on the table with this one.

I was not ready for this. As an admitted Bill Evans fanatic, I own about 75% of all of his available recordings and constantly search for new recordings of his. Last week I ordered both volumes 1 and 2 of The Solo Sessions. After listening to Bill thousands of times, my first listen to these solo recordings blew me away. I cried three times while listening. You can feel the pain that Bill is going through during this period when he was strung out on heroin. These recordings are the most intimate, reflective, emotionally-raw ones I have heard Bill make. If I had to choose one recording session to have sat in on during Bill's career, it would have been this one. Next to the original Village Vanguard recordings, these are, in my opinion, the most essential Bill Evans albums ever released.

These albums (solo sessions 1 & 2) are truly not to be missed. The clarity of the ideas Bill Evans expresses on these recordings, with his lyrical melodies that absolutely sing to the listener, spellbinding harmonies and uncanny sense of rhythm are simply beautiful. The Spartacus Love Theme / Nardis and My Favorite Things / Easy to Love / Baubles Bangles and Beads tracks are exceptional. Highly recommended.