Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous, November 30, 2000
Bill Evans is a musician you never tire of listening to. He has the ability to play a tune freshly, every time. This recording is, in my opinion, his finest. The first date after the untimely death of Scott LaFaro, this album is beautiful ,melodic and haunting. Every tune is played with typical Evans genius, but on this session he seems to be expressing his musical ideas with even more flavor and emotion. The first cut is the most expressive and emotive I have ever heard in the trio setting. I am sure it was dedicated to LaFaro, even though it supposedly is an anagram for the producer of the date, Orrin Keepnews. Evans expresses his passion, joy and grief for his young bassist in every note and the result is, to my mind, stunning. I love Chuck Israels' bass lines and the chords Evans plays quietly over the bass solo are beautiful and ephemeral. Every tune on this CD is wonderful, the playing of everyone is at such a high level of creativity that this music will live on forever. This is a can't miss choice if you like piano music.
|
|
|
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Bill Evans most beautiful recordings!, August 18, 2003
This is by far one of the most beautiful recordings made by the Bill Evans trio. This was I'm told Bill's first all ballads record. Riverside records released it on vinyl way back in 1962. None of the music sounds dated. considering it's 41 years old. This is the first recording Bill made with Chuck Israels taking over for the late Scott Lafaro as the bass player. This album has a very haunting and romantic feeling to it. The music is sad in tone and suggests feelings of longing and sobering reflection. One goal that Bill always strived for was to ballance intellect with passion to make intelligent and original sounding jazz. I dont even know if jazz is the right stamp to put on this recording. To me it sounds more like European classical music. Also thank god for Bill's college music theory teacher at Southeastern University Gretchen Magee. Because if it werent for her motivation {Evans often thought of his work as unsatisfactory and sometimes needed alot of motivation from from bandmates and peers} he might not have composed his gorgeous original composition "Very Early" {which is the last track on the CD its just breathtaking...}Being an amature pianist myself, "Very early" and "childrens play song" were the first two Evans' compositions I taught myself to play. The piece is a composition played in C major at a slow waltz tempo. He played the tune until the end of his life in 1980, but the original version on "moonbeams" might be the all around finest one. It is given a very slow and delicate treatment, and when he restates the theme at the end you can almost feel an imagrey of leaves or snow falling gently around you. I also really like his interpretation of "It might as well be spring". I think that Bill Evans was a beautiful person and pianist because he was never flashy and this album proves that. He didnt play anything he didnt have to. He always played just the right amount of notes and chords. With this record it all comes together coherently to make a truly stunning musical statement. Evans once told Tony Bennet to forget everything else and just concentrate on "truth and beauty." With the album "moonbeams" fans of Evans' music and important legacy will clearly be able to hear his own truth and beauty about life glowing from this gorgeous album. Highly recommended!
|
|
|
46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the quintessentially nocturnal bill evans album, May 31, 2000
i give this album 5 stars simply because every track is stunningly sublime. the mood of the album is much grayer and introspective than bill's other albums (although its hard to be more introspective than bill already is), as 'moonbeams' was one of the first albums evans recorded after the accidental death of Scott LaFaro, the transcendental virtuoso bassist who formed the most 'simultaneous improvisation' trio jazz has ever seen (along with paul motian on drums).evans respected laFaro as a musician held him in the highest regard. after laFaro's death (10 days after the Village Vanguard show) evans took a short sabbatical from music. this album shows bill coming out of this depressing cave, at night, rediscovering the moon and stars... the disc is worth the first track alone 're: person i knew,' a track probably dedicated to lafaro. evans himself recorded this composistion on other occasions (one of my favorites, on the 1970 'from left to right' album which features evans on the fender/rhodes electric piano). evans probes the keys, searching for a reply to some anguish. the rest of the tracks are marvelous gems of nightmusic; this is also the only evans CD which features all ballads. if you are looking for an evans album that 'swings' dont buy this one (opt for 'everybody digs bill evans'). this music does not swing; it sways, broods, subtly swimming in the night; incidentally, the title (and the track 'moonbeams and polka dots') comes from a bud powell (probably the biggest pianist to influence evans) track by the name of...well...'moonbeams and polka dots'
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
by Bill Evans Trio 
