Bill Evans - Bill Evans In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
(Elemental Music, 2024)
There is no shortage of live recordings by Bill Evans, commercially released or otherwise. It would stand to reason that in so much material, the performance qualities must vary. This, however, has no account in the diverse population making up Bill Evans fans. Each performance has its place, teaching a newer and deeper facet to the musical intelligence of Evans. Every recorded performance exists on a continuum that, while no longer evolving, is deepening and expanding the truths revealed. Each previously unreleased performance that surfaces becomes the focus of an elaborate critical dissection, resulting in a new exegesis to consider within the Bill Evans universe. Each performance becomes an improvised liturgy, one that is as constant and calm as it is fluid and kinetic in its expression.
New performances unearthed add just that much more data to the rapidly clarifying Evans Timeline. Evans’ performance at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival took place on Friday, June 26, 1970, in Kongsberg, Norway. Regarding commercially released recordings, this places the Norway performance between the performances leading to Bill Evans - Montreux II (CTI Records, 1970) and MPS Variation '73 (MPS, 1973) Respectively. Evans, along with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, began a brief European Tour that took them through the Montreux Jazz Fest., Casino De Montreux, Switzerland, MPS-Tonstudio, Villingen/Black Forest, W. Germany, and this show in Norway. It would be prudent to expect this tour to yield even more unreleased material.
Kongsberg found Evans in fine form. Evans was addressing his heroin addiction, giving his creative side more room to grow. He and the trio deliver a muscular performance that finds many of the ballads played at a faster tempo than heard in other performances. “Come Rain Or Come Shine” opens the recital to an appreciative audience. Evans introduces the standard with an angular approach, using block chords to fashion the melody before giving way to Gomez, whose solo is a model. Superior sonics characterize these performances with each musician well captured.
Evans’ playing is bright and upbeat, illuminating, putting a smile on even the sadder songs (“Turn Out The Stars” “Some Other Time”). Drummer Morell propels “Autumn Leaves” with his skillful timekeeping. Evans gives Gomez much solo space early in the performance before rounding things back up for an explosive coda. Near the recitals center, Evans presents Miles Davis’ “So What” (on which Evans played on Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959), and Scott La Faro’s “Gloria’s Step” which was such a big part of Evans’ watershed Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961). Evans approaches both pieces with a precise urgency highlighting the history of the songs. Evans closes the show with a lengthy consideration of Davis’ “Nardis,” a piece that was a cornerstone in the Evans repertoire. It is the most introspective piece of the concert.