While we often recognize true musical artistry upon the release of a CD or LP, it tends to be only with hindsight that we can truly define a musician's most impressive period. This is certainly true of jazz pianist Bill Evans. No one doubted his talent and artistry then or now. Evans would record excellent albums until his death in 1980 and become one of the most influential jazz pianists of all time. Yet we know today that if there was a golden age of Evans, it was the period from 1958 to the summer of 1961 when he, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian comprised the Bill Evans Trio.
During those years, Evans was recording as a leader for the Riverside label, one of the top jazz labels in the country. Evans is among several jazz giants to have CDs issued as part of the Riverside Profiles series. Evans's CD covers the entirety of his career with Riverside, giving a taste of not only of the golden age but what preceded and followed it.
Only one tune, "Speak Low," comes from the period before Evans joined the Miles Davis Sextet for eight months in 1958. Yet "Speak Low" is among the more bop pieces on the CD. It comes from Evans's first recording as a leader with Riverside, New Jazz Conceptions. The 1956 session also marked the pianist's recording in a trio with Motian, who would be an essential and critical part of most of his career. While New Jazz Conceptions showed both Evans's bop and lyrical styles (a short version of his classic "Waltz for Debby" was recorded during the sessions), Evans seems to have been inspired by — and part of the inspiration for — Davis's immortal Kind of Blue. After recording that LP with Davis, Evans again set out on his own with Riverside.
Riverside Profiles shows one of the more unusual yet memorable fruit of the post-Miles period, the solo "Peace Piece." Coming from a direction almost entirely opposite of "Speak Low," "Peace Piece" is an intensely reflective song that becomes tinged with a more freestyle, almost avant garde, sound. Evans's next venture into the studio for Riverside would be highly notable. It was the first of what would tragically be only two studio recordings with LaFaro and Motian.
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