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

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.

TRACKLIST

1 B Minor Waltz (Remastered 2022)
2 You Must Believe In Spring (Remastered 2022)
3 Gary's Theme (Remastered 2022)
4 We Will Meet Again (Remastered 2022)
5 The Peacocks (Remastered 2022)
6 Sometime Ago (Remastered 2022)
7 Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless) (Remastered 2022)
8 Without A Song (Remastered 2022)
9 Freddie Freeloader (Remastered 2022)
10 All Of You (Remastered 2022)



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