My latest encounter with the jazz trio performances led by pianist Bill Evans led me to a YouTube video that turned out to be a copy of a DVD released in 2008. The DVD, about an hour and 40 minutes in duration, was an anthology collected as part of a series of releases under the rubric Jazz Icons. The title of the copied video was Bill Evans: Live ’64–’75, and it compiled footage from concerts in Scandinavia and France. More specifically, there were concerts in both Denmark and Sweden in 1970, an earlier Swedish concert in 1964, and a later Danish concert in 1975. In addition, there are two tracks from a French concert in 1965.
Since I was never able to examine the 24-page booklet that accompanied the DVD, I have no idea how accurate it was. However, there is an extended “Review” section on the Amazon Web page for this video, whose content is more variable in its reliability than anyone serious about listening to jazz would wish. Sadly, there are even more blatant inaccuracies on the YouTube Web page; but, in the interest of thanking heaven for small favors, there is a good track listing with all of the time codes for the music being performed.
For all of those flaws, however, the content itself makes for an informative follow-up to the video document of the two half-hour Jazz 625 concerts that Evans led at the BBC Studios on March 19, 1965. Indeed, the trio membership in Sweden in 1964 was the same as the one playing for the BBC: the other trio members were Chuck Israels on bass and Larry Bunker on drums. Both of those Swedish recordings presented two of the tunes played in London in the following year: “My Foolish Heart” and “Israel.” The opportunity for side-by-side viewing of these tracks should offer at least a few hints about how that particular trio improvised.
Eddie Gomez and Eliot Zigmund in Denmark in 1975 (screen shot from the YouTube video being discussed)
However, almost all of the remaining sets were recorded after Eddie Gomez replaced Israels. During the 1970 concerts the drummer was Marty Morell, and Eliot Zigmund served as drummer in 1975. The French gig is exceptional in several ways. In this case the trio is filled out by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Alan Dawson on drums. (It is a bit ironic that Pedersen did not play in any of the Scandinavian gigs.) In addition, the performance of “My Melancholy Baby” included saxophone solo work by Lee Konitz, leading me to wonder what else he contributed to that evening’s concert.
I was also amused to see that the black-and-white account of the Danish 1970 concert was followed by the Swedish footage from the same year in color. This turned out to be more curse than blessing. The Swedish crew seemed more interested in video effects than with the music being played at that particular club date. The 1975 performance, on the other hand, took place in a studio. The color video work was less “arty;” but not entirely so. Sadly, none of the videos in this package involve images that follow where the ear wishes to pay attention. Thus, one gets to observe Zigmund’s bass fingering skills through happy accident, rather than as the result of a video director that knows how to listen to jazz and how to facilitate that listening experience for those watching a recording.
Taken as a whole the one hour of BBC programming is far more informative than the DVD package. Nevertheless, the best way to appreciate Evans’ prodigious talents is through opportunities to accompany listening with watching him at work. When we are dealing with significant performances that took place about half a century ago, we have to take what we can get!
No comments:
Post a Comment