Undercurrent (Bill Evans and Jim Hall album)
Labels
- Original LP: United Artists, Solid State
- CD re-release: Blue Note
Occupation
- Piano: Bill Evans
- Guitar: Jim Hall
Undercurrent is a well-established in April / May 1962 album of jazz pianist Bill Evans and jazz guitarist Jim Hall. It was the first album together, the two musicians. Undercurrent was published in 1963 at United Artists and was re-released later as a CD on Blue Note. The album cover illustrates the title Undercurrent (Eng. " undercurrent " ) and shows the underwater photograph of a woman in white dress in the sources of the Weeki Wachee River in Hernando County, Florida, ( Weeki Wachee springs) by Toni Frissell, 1947 arose. Evans and Hall have worked together as a duo again in April / May 1966, the follow-up album intermodulation ( Verve ).
History Album
The recordings of the pianist with guitarist Jim Hall took just under a year after the tragic end of the first Bill Evans trio takes as his bassist Scott LaFaro shortly after the Village Vanguard Sessions ( Waltz for Debby ) was killed in an accident. In the first half of 1962 Evans had seen only a few ways of recording, as a sideman with Tadd Dameron in February and April 1962. Both as soloist and in two formations around Benny Golson (including with Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy, Just Jazz ) During this time, even before Evans wrote under the management of Helen Keane his contract with Verve, United Artists producer Alan Douglas took the pianist with Jim Hall together, " a special album include ". The two musicians had previously worked together in the studio only in the Third Stream projects Odds Against Tomorrow ( 1959) and Jazz Abstractions ( 1960).
The sessions were held on 24 April 1962, on 14 May 1962 Sound engineer was Bill Schwartau. Between Evans was his second trio, which included now Chuck Israels and Paul Motian, and with flautist Herbie Mann in the studio to finish in 1961 started recording for his album Nirvana. A few days later, from 17 May 1962, he recorded with his trio LP Moonbeams.
Album Review
Hanns A. Petrik raised in his Evans biography " the wonderful balance in the game of two remarkable jazz individualists " out. " The fine balance of music shows the extraordinary feeling of both artists who work out a way of example, in one another tangled musical filigree. Duo music of the highest quality " as the highlights of the album refers to the author whose version of the standard " My Funny Valentine" as "one of most successful duo improvisations in jazz history. Climax of the play is a tremendously swinging middle section, in which the guitar Jim Hall takes on the role of a marching in 4/4 double bass and Evans finds an elegant improvisation. "
Cook and Morton awarded Undercurrent the highest rating and stressed the duo album was a " masterpiece of the silent shades, then drifting melancholy and - perhaps most surprisingly - the violent swings; latter show quality is most evident in the partially full bloody I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. In memory but remained almost hallucinatory ballads Dream Gypsyund Romain ".
Scott Yanow called the album in Allmusic as "recommended" and gave him the second highest award. At the first meeting of the two duo of Evans and Hall, he noticed: the album was " introspective and harmonically sophisticated, while rooted in swinging bebop. while there is in this great game a greater variety than expected ( ... ) even with hints of classical music. "
Title
- The tracks 1, 5, 6 and 8 are not included on the original LP.
- The title 3, 5 and 6 formed during the first recording session, the other at the studio date in May 1962.
Editorial notes
The original album was released as United Artists LP ( UAJ 140032 ) without the bonus tracks, the CD of the Blue Note Records ( Blue Note B1 90583 ) published were attached.