Bill Evans – Symbiosis (1974/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Bill Evans - Symbiosis (1974/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Symbiosis (1974/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 41:02 minutes | 806 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Bill Evans’ enormous discography is so big that some of his albums fall too quickly into the oblivion. Published in 1974 by the German label MPS, Symbiosis is one of his overlooked albums for you to rediscover without delay! Recorded in the CBS studio on the 30th road of New York on the 11th, 12th and 14th of February 1974, he is reminiscent of the pianists interest for classical and Third Stream music, this current that oozed out the brain of Gunther Schuller synthesizing classical western music and jazz. Composed by Claus Ogerman who Evans had hired in 1965 for his album Bill Evans Trio With Symphony Orchestra, this concert work for the jazz trio and symphony orchestra mixes both written and improvised passages. We find both tonal and serial writing throughout this recording, giving a result that would make Glenn Gould go on to say, in one of his radio emissions, that Symbiosis is a “remarkable and marvelous” work. Gould would later add that Ogerman has an “astonishing harmonic inventiveness” but concerning Bill Evans, there are “too many contradictions between the improvised parts, or supposedly improvised, from someone as gifted as Bill Evans and the very sophisticated well-structured scaffolding implemented by Ogerman”. Surrounded by his disciples Eddie Gomez on the double bass and Marty Morell on the drums, Bill Evans is far from being as uninspired as his fellow Canadian. His singular approach, out of this world even, surely baffled more than a few people in the past. But, with the help of time, we are still amazed by the beauty and the intelligence of the changes of rhythms and colours. And by the work itself.
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Bill Evans – Some Other Time (The Lost Session From The Black Forest) (1968/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - Some Other Time (The Lost Session From The Black Forest) (1968/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Some Other Time (The Lost Session From The Black Forest) (1968/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:33:38 minutes | 3,06 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos

Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest is a newly unearthed studio session from the iconic pianist Bill Evans featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Recorded on June 20, 1968, nearly 10 years after the legendary Kind of Blue sessions with Miles Davis and a mere five days after the trio’s incredible Grammy award-winning performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, this is truly a landmark discovery for jazz listeners worldwide. Available in deluxe 2-CD and limited edition 2-LP sets, and containing over 90 minutes of music, this is the only studio album in existence of the Bill Evans trio with Gomez and DeJohnette. Some Other Time was recorded by the legendary MPS Records founder and producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer along with writer/producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt at the MPS studios in the Black Forest (Villingen, Germany).
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Bill Evans – Smile With Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance Records (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bill Evans - Smile With Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance Records (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Smile With Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance Records (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:27 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Resonance Records

Smile With Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance brings together standout tracks from the company’s four sets of hitherto unheard material by the lyrical keyboard master: Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate (2012); Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest (2016); Another Time: The Hilversum Concert (2017); and Evans in England (2019). Evans in England was issued for the first time as limited edition two-LP set on Record Store Day 2019, and 3 tracks from the album appear on Smile With Your Heart.
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Bill Evans – Quintessence (1976/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - Quintessence (1976/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Quintessence (1976/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:56 minutes | 1,50 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fantasy

Quintessence is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans. It was recorded in 1976 for Fantasy Records and released the following year. At this time usually playing solo or with his trio, for these sessions Evans was the leader of an all-star quintet featuring Harold Land on tenor saxophone, guitarist Kenny Burrell, Ray Brown on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.
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Bill Evans – New Conversations (1978/2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - New Conversations (1978/2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – New Conversations (1978/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 46:12 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

This amazing showcase of jazz piano is generally regarded as the best of Evans’series. “Reflections in D” will leave you spellbound. Thankfully this album was masterfully mixed and recorded, enabling a beautiful, pristine-quality experience as an HD remaster.
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Bill Evans – Live at Ronnie Scott’s (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bill Evans - Live at Ronnie Scott's (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Live at Ronnie Scott’s (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:39:40 minutes | 1,66 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Resonance Records

Bill Evans’ Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby are undoubtedly two of the finest-crafted live recordings in jazz; the musicianship is legendary, the recording pristine. Yet listening to Live at Ronnie Scott’s, a “new” live album that captures Evans with his mythic 1968 trio—bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette—can make those two earlier albums sound a little sterile by comparison.
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Bill Evans – Live at Art d’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate (2012/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - Live at Art d'Lugoff's Top of the Gate (2012/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Live at Art d’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate (2012/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:29:50 minutes | 3,06 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © 2xHD – Resonance Records

The album Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, offers listeners a table at the front of the stage for a stellar performance by one of jazz’s greatest trios. It’s October 23, 1968 in Greenwich Village, The lineup that night consisted of three musicians in their prime: Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell. Evans had, reportedly, kicked his drug habit during this period, and this was thought by many to be his most stable and, certainly, longest-lasting group. This trio was together until 1975. Evans is in both swinging and contemplative modes and highlights the trio’s superb interaction. Gomez had been with Evans since 1966, while Morell came aboard in 1968; Gomez was a master improviser, while Morell was an energetic, straight-ahead drummer, always keeping the trio on track. Along with the leader, both contribute masterful solos here. The album features two complete sets, including two versions of three songs. There is one original (“Turn Out the Stars”); the rest are jazz standards and familiar show tunes.

Throughout the two sets, Evans showcases his gift for interpreting standards, over the seventeen tracks. “My Funny Valentine” moves effortlessly from tenderness to passion, while “Gone with the Wind” erupts at a breakneck pace and “Here’s That Rainy Day” concludes the evening with heart-breaking emotion.

Students of Evans’ music will be delighted to see that three pieces (“Emily,” “Yesterdays,” and “‘Round Midnight”) are represented in both the first and second sets, offering a rare opportunity to compare the soloists’ diverging takes on the same tunes in a single evening. Also, several of the selections possess historic significance: both “My Funny Valentine” and “Here’s That Rainy Day” (and possibly “Mother of Earl”) mark Evans’ first documented trio performances of those songs, while “Here’s That Rainy Day” may be the first time Evans recorded that piece period.
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Bill Evans – Live at Art D’Lugoff’s: Top of the Gate (1968/2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Bill Evans - Live at Art D'Lugoff's: Top of the Gate (1968/2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Live at Art D’Lugoff’s: Top of the Gate (1968/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:29:17 minutes | 961 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Resonance Records

Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, a previously unreleased recording captured over a half century ago consists of two blistering sets recorded at the legendary venue in October, 1968. Digitally remastered from the original tapes, the album features one of jazz’s most prominent trios – pianist Bill Evans, drummer Marty Morell and bassist Eddie Gomez. This dazzling collection of jazz standards and classics from the Great American Songbook includes the standouts, “’Round Midnight,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Someday My Prince Will Come,” “Mother of Earl,” “Emily” and much more. Displaying their infectious energy and raw synergy, the album marks the only Evans recording ever released from The Village Gate. This stellar download has already been declared one of jazz’s greatest discoveries and is a vital addition to any collection.

“One of the great jazz discoveries of the year”now and, for certain, when the year is finished six months from now.” – Jeff Simon, Buffalo News
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Bill Evans – Further Conversations With Myself (1967/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - Further Conversations With Myself (1967/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Further Conversations With Myself (1967/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:09 minutes | 1,47 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve

For Bill Evans’ second solo record of unaccompanied but overdubbed piano solos, he decided to simplify the concept used in Conversations with Myself (which had him playing three pianos) by only playing two this time. The program is brief, but Evans plays quite well throughout. In particular, his versions of Johnny Mandel’s “Emily” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” are most memorable. A thoughtful and (despite the overdubbing) spontaneous-sounding set of melodic music. – Scott Yanow
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Bill Evans, Shelly Manne – Empathy (1962/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bill Evans, Shelly Manne - Empathy (1962/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Bill Evans, Shelly Manne – Empathy (1962/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 35:11 minutes | 775 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Verve Reissues

Empathy is the album that resulted when the Bill Evans Trio and Shelly Manne & His Men were sharing the bill at New York’s Village Vanguard. A session at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio was set up, and the trio of Evans, Manne, and Monty Budwig (Manne’s bass player) recorded the album. Because all of the musicians were out of their regular working ensembles, they felt more free to play around with the music and the resulting music is light, free, and relaxed. Songs recorded include Irving Berlin’s “The Washington Twist” and “Let’s Go Back to the Waltz”.
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Bill Evans – Affinity (1978/2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - Affinity (1978/2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – Affinity (1978/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 49:26 minutes | 1,65 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

This remarkable audiophile recording pairs together two of jazz’s most legendary players, pianist Bill Evans and harmonica player Toots Thielemans. The duo’s luscious and harmonious performance can be enjoyed on breath-taking covers of Paul Simon’s “I Do It For Your Love” and Michel Legrand’s “The Other Side of Tonight,” as well as on two jazz standards “Body & Soul” and “Blue and Green.” The album would be the final studio recording to feature Evans on electric piano and is a must-have album.
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Bill Evans – You Must Believe In Spring (Remastered 2022) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Bill Evans - You Must Believe In Spring (Remastered 2022) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Bill Evans – You Must Believe In Spring (Remastered 2022) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 58:09 minutes | 1,80 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings

When discussing the inexhaustible and gone-too-soon genius of pianist Bill Evans, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the mass of music released both before and after his tragic death in 1980. The easy equation is that the studio albums done during his lifetime are the blueprint and the continuing stream of live albums are improvised variations on that theme, probably aimed at and best appreciated by those already familiar with his studio work. Evans’ gifts were deep and many-faceted and fortunately he recorded often. Of all the late studio albums, the bittersweetly titled You Must Believe in Spring, is the undisputed gem. While the title of its predecessor We Will Meet Again directly presaged Evans’ coming demise, You Must Believe in Spring spoke to the pain the pianist was suffering over his brother Harry’s struggles with schizophrenia and the suicide of his longtime partner Ellaine Schultz. Evan opens with the slow and plaintive “B Minor Waltz (for Ellaine)” in which the mood varies from searching to resignation, yet his incredible, seemingly effortless technique keeps it from being overly sad and unlistenable. Melancholy is also the major emotion in a searching version of Michel Legrand’s title track (from the musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort) where Eddie Gomez’s muscular bass and Eliot Zigmund’s drumming, both firmly in a mind meld with Evans, eventually wind up the tempo before the tune finishes on a quiet note by Evans alone. Regarding the musicians’ synergy and fluidity, the album’s co-producer Tommy LiPuma remarked, “By pure chance, I caught that trio at the right time. They were locked in and it was perfection. It all gets down to the quality of the story being told by the musicians.” Notably this would be Gomez’s last recording with Evans. Recorded in 1977 at the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood with the great engineer Al Schmitt, this pure and gorgeously balanced session closes with “Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless).” Always willing to imbue popular hits with his special interpretative verve, Evans ends this lilting tune with serious undertones with a special playfulness. The three bonus tracks here, which first appeared on a now scarce 2003 reissue of the album, confirm LiPuma’s judgment of a trio with an unspoken unity: “Without a Song” lightly swings; a robust, very deliberate “Freddie Freeloader”—the only song on Kind of Blue that Evans did not play on—shows how much he might have contributed; and an upbeat, nearly unrecognizable, version of Cole Porter’s “All Of You” with a rapid fire Gomez solo add to this landmark album’s perfection.
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Bill Evans – Further Conversations With Myself (1967/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bill Evans – Further Conversations With Myself (1967/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 35:08 minutes | 1,47 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve

For Bill Evans’ second solo record of unaccompanied but overdubbed piano solos, he decided to simplify the concept used in Conversations with Myself (which had him playing three pianos) by only playing two this time. The program is brief, but Evans plays quite well throughout. In particular, his versions of Johnny Mandel’s “Emily” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” are most memorable. A thoughtful and (despite the overdubbing) spontaneous-sounding set of melodic music.

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Various Artists – Great Jazz Selection (2018) [Esoteric Japan Box Set] SACD ISO + FLAC

VA – Great Jazz Selection (2018) [Esoteric Japan Box Set]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 247:31 minutes | Some Scans included | 10 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Some Scans included | 5,71 GB

ESOTERIC Company proudly introduces a new series of Re-mastered Jazz Masterpiece Collection. The reissue of historical music masterpieces by ESOTERIC has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound, and for using SACD technology to improve sound quality. This Box Set of “Great Jazz Selection” features iconic releases of Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Bud Powell, Lee Morgan & Oscar Peterson. Not only for new followers, but also for well experienced followers of these recorded materials.

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