Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings [Box set]

Bill Evans | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 1996)
• Original Release Date: November 5, 1996
• Number of Discs: 6
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002MYU
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,701 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All of us are in the gutter,....., April 14, 2003

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings (Audio CD)

.... but some of us are looking at the stars. When I first picked this up, 7 years ago, I was stunned and driven to tears by the beauty of the music herein. I have never heard a CD that has impacted me as deeply as this, and I was not really that aware of Evans, other than as the piano player on KIND OF BLUE. THIS CHANGED ALL THAT. What happened here was that I came face to face with a man who knew that his life was ending and the urgency in his playing was driven by his desire to make some lasting enduring statement about Music and what Truths lie therein before fate came to turn out the stars.
You don't need me to validate his playing. Evans was one of a kind and a soul of powerful emotions. Often called impressionistic, Evans was really more exitentialistic: there is an urgency at every moment to live and to play authentically. I can see what Miles saw in him: it wasn't what he played, but what was in the silence that his beautiful music framed. This set is absolutely loaded with such moments.
Oscar Wilde made the comment with which I opened this note. Oscar also observed that "All men kill the things they loved." Should you ever read Bill's biography, you'll understand how that aphorism applies with tragic tenderness to Bill Evans. I can think of no greater loss to music than his passing. This set presents the mments just before his star went supernova. It is the most brilliant box set I have ever heard.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Late Period Evans, December 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings (Audio CD)

This 6CD box set presents the final Bill Evans trio performing live at the Village Vanguard in New York. Recorded just three months prior to Evans death, the set proves to be the outright representative of his latter work.

This set is totally unique to any other Evans recording in my opinion, expressing both the hard swinging and also the subtle, lyrical Evans in equal proportions. The trio interacts brilliantly on every disc, with extended bass and drum solos frequent in number. This set throughly reveals Evans during his final performing period with a high percentage of original material and a more aggressive approach to the piano. In particular, disc 4 presents a firey Evans, who reinvents such tunes as "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "Up With The Lark".

Overall, this set comes highly recommended. Within my vast jazz CD library, this set ranks within the top few purchases I have made. Many of the selections are played with a liberal dose of humour and you get to fully recognise the way in which Bill Evans was growing musically during the period. The four takes of "Nardis" alone are proof to this rapid growth, with each presenting totally different views on the classic melody. If you love Bill Evans, or just love great piano jazz, then buy this set. You will not be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the best piano jazz available, June 10, 2000

By 

"glv-jazz" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings (Audio CD)

The Village Vanguard is the club that Bill Evans played some of his best music. It is rather amazing that Evans, who was dying after years and years of drug abuse, played the way he did during these sessions. It was as if his hands had a mind of their own. This 6 CD box is essential to any fan of Evans. His last trio was one of his best. Musch like his first trio, the interaction between Evans, Marc Johnson, and Joe LaBarbra is just amazing. I have heard many piano-bass-drum trios try to accomplish this sort of sound and they fall way behind. This is the trio at their best. I believe the most impressive tracks are the many versions of "Nardis" and "My Romance" where each memeber of the trio gets a few minutes for an unaccompanied solo. This set is rather expensive (there is a highlights CD that is rather limited) but it is worth every cent. It is a true jazz classic.