Explorations

Bill Evans

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Original Release Date: February 2, 1961
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000Y2A
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,679 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explore This!, September 15, 2000

By	Ted Ficklen (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Some prefer Evans' Portrait in Jazz or Sunday at the Village, but for me, this is the greatest recording by Evans and his all time best trio: Paul Motian on drums and the too soon gone Scott LaFaro on bass. The peaks here for me are the opening number, Israel, which seems to start almost in mid-tune, and Nardis, which is credited to Miles Davis, but became a Bill Evans theme throughout his career.

If you have a CD Walkman, this is a great CD to listen to while you walk or run.

Bill Evans had a full career and made many great albums. Scott Lafaro died tragically young not long after this was recorded. Fans of the bass playing may want to look for a neat little CD, The Arrival of Victor Feldman, one of the precious few LaFaro recordings.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, December 4, 2000

By	Kenneth James Michael MacLean (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews

It is difficult to overstate the quality of Bill Evans playing. I have been listening seriously to jazz for over 30 years and I do not believe there is a more consistent artist than Bill Evans. The quality of his work is astonishing, session after session, especially the recordings he did for Riverside. Explorations is deep, swinging and melodic, as are so many of his dates. This session is of particularly high quality, and the version of Nardis is just wonderful. This guy has the ability to play unique versions of every tune he approaches -- his ability to project the inner essence of a song is unmatched. Every cut on this session is great, as the trio is in fine form.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's get this straight..., February 19, 2005

By	Micah Newman (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...the average number of stars should be *five*.

There, that's better.

I'm a huge Bill Evans aficionado, and love his work from every period of his career. The earlyish period of '58-'61, in which this one falls, was undeniably the pinnacle, though, and this LP is, to me, hands-down the definitive Bill Evans studio album. This same band's work on the Village Vanguard recordings (captured on _Sunday at the Village Vanguard_ and _Waltz for Debby_) actually surpasses _Explorations_, I think, but as a regular studio LP, this one should be duly recognized as one of those absolutely perfect jazz albums, in company with such as Miles Davis' _Kind of Blue_, John Coltrane's _Giant Steps_, and Wayne Shorter's _Speak No Evil_.

The sound quality is crystalline, the playing flawless yet soulful, and on top of all that, it's the classic trio with LaFaro and Motian. The track selection just couldn't be improved upon: there's the melodic drive of tunes that sound like they were written for Bill Evans like "Israel" and "Nardis," ravishing ballads like "Haunted Heart" and "Elsa," and more playful tunes like "Beautiful Love" and "The Boy Next Door." You get the whole spectrum of Evans' magic here. Hopefully you already know of the transcendant musical genius of Bill Evans' piano artistry, and if you're looking for where to start or what's essential, let me just say this: this is *it*.