William John Evans was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today.
Miles Ahead is an album by Miles Davis that was released in October 1957 by Columbia Records. It was Davis' first collaboration with arranger Gil Evans following the Birth of the Cool sessions. Along with their subsequent collaborations Porgy and Bess (1959) and Sketches of Spain (1960), Miles Ahead is one of the most famous recordings of Third Stream, a fusion of jazz, European classical, and world musics. Davis played flugelhorn throughout.
Explorations is an album by jazz pianist Bill Evans that was originally released on Riverside label in 1961. The album won the Billboard Jazz Critics Best Piano LP poll for 1961.
Conversations with Myself is a 1963 album by American jazz musician Bill Evans.
Waltz for Debby is a live album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans and his trio consisting of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian. It was released in 1962.
Together Again is a 1977 studio album by singer Tony Bennett and jazz pianist Bill Evans. It was originally issued on Bennett's own Improv Records label, which went out of business later that year, but was subsequently reissued on Concord.
Know What I Mean? is a 1962 album by jazz musician Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, accompanied by Bill Evans and the rhythm section of the Modern Jazz Quartet. It was released on Riverside label as RLP-433.
Moon Beams is a 1962 album by jazz musician Bill Evans and the first trio album he recorded after the death of bassist Scott LaFaro. It introduces two important Evans originals, "Re: Person I Knew", and "Very Early," which Evans had actually composed as an undergraduate. The originals serve as bookends to an album otherwise consisting of standards from the 1930s and 1940s.
1958 Miles is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1974 on CBS/Sony. Recording sessions for tracks that appear on the album took place on May 26, 1958, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio and September 9, 1958, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. 1958 Miles consists of three songs featured on side two of the LP album Jazz Track, which was released in November 1959, one song from the same session not appearing in the album, and three recordings from Davis' live performance at the Plaza Hotel with his ensemble sextet. The recording date at 30th Street Studio served as the first documented session to feature pianist Bill Evans performing in Davis' group.
Exclusively for My Friends is a series of originally six albums for the MPS label by Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of private concerts with a small audience in his home studio. The albums have been collected in different box sets over the years.
Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I is a live album by The Miles Davis Sextet. It was recorded in 1958 and released in 1973 by Columbia Records. Duke Ellington was recorded at the same event and released as the second volume (Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II).
Alone is a solo piano album by jazz musician Bill Evans, recorded in the fall of 1968 for Verve Records, featuring a particularly notable 14+-minute performance of the jazz standard "Never Let Me Go." Evans contributed notes to the album, including the following statement:
Perhaps the hours of greatest pleasure in my life have come about as a result of the capacity of the piano to be in itself a complete expressive musical medium. In retrospect, I think that these countless hours of aloneness with music unified the directive energy of my life. At those times when I have achieved this sense of oneness while playing alone, the many technical or analytic aspects of the music happened of themselves with positive rightness which always served to remind me that to understand music most profoundly one only has to be listening well. Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience. This has nothing to do with my desire to communicate or not, but rather I think just a problem of personal self-consciousness which had to be conquered through discipline and concentration. Yet, to know one is truly alone with one’s instrument and music has always been an attractive and conducive situation for me to find my best playing level. Therefore, what I desired to present in a solo piano recording was especially this unique feeling.
The Solo Sessions, Vol. 2 is an album by jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1992.
I Will Say Goodbye is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, recorded in 1977 but not released until January 1980. It was his final album for Fantasy Records, making the title quite appropriate.
Bill Evans at Town Hall is a live album from 1966 by American jazz pianist Bill Evans and his trio. It was released as "Volume 1," but no subsequent volume appeared. A planned release of big-band material, featuring Evans, from the second part of the concert ended up being nixed, as according to Evans's manager, Helen Keane, the pianist "did not play his best" during the second half.
The Bill Evans Album is a recording by the jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1971 on the Columbia label. It was his first album to feature all compositions written, arranged, and performed by him. On the record, Evans plays both an acoustic and a Fender Rhodes electric piano.
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.
Girl Talk is a 1968 studio album by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, the second volume of his Exclusively for My Friends series. It was compiled from live studio sessions recorded between 1964 and 1966.
Roy and Diz is an album by trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie, recorded in 1954 and originally released on the Clef label as two separate volumes. Selections from these sessions were also released as Trumpet Battle and The Trumpet Kings.
Eloquence is an album composed of songs played by jazz musicians Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez between the years of 1973 and 1975. It was released posthumously in 1982 on Fantasy Records.
