Great jazz standards
| Great jazz standards | ||||
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| Gil Evans studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Pacific jazz | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
7th |
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running time |
36:23 |
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Studio (s) |
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Great Jazz Standards is a jazz album by Gil Evans . It was recorded in New York City in early 1959 and February 5, 1959 , and released on Pacific Jazz .
The album
After New Bottle, Old Wine - The Great Jazz Composers , Great Jazz Standards was another album by the band leader, arranger, composer and pianist Gil Evans, which contained his arrangements of well-known jazz standards . The sessions took place after a two-week engagement with the Evans Orchestra in the Birdland jazz club in New York . Evans had written arrangements of well-known compositions by Bix Beiderbecke , Thelonious Monk , Don Redman , John Lewis and Clifford Brown . Evans won some new musicians for the production, such as Elvin Jones and Budd Johnson ; other musicians such as Steve Lacy , Johnny Coles , Bill Barber , Jimmy Cleveland , Louis Mucci and Al Block had already participated in previous Evans productions.
Stephanie Stein Crease points out that "this album, like New Bottle, Old Wine , has a strong rhythmic drive that is not often associated with Evan's work, which Elvin Jones contributes to most of the tracks here."
The first track Davenport Blues highlights the trumpeter Johnny Coles; the deep voicings of the brass are a reminder of Evans' collaboration with Miles Davis on Porgy and Bess . Evans opens Straight No Chaser with an introduction which, with its syncopations and repetitions, is reminiscent of the piece's composer, Thelonious Monk. Soloists are Coles, Lacy and Curtis Fuller. The pianist begins the ballad Ballad of the Sad Young Men with a blues motif; Soloist in the spiritual- influenced title is trombonist Jimmy Cleveland. The short bop-oriented Joy Spring is followed by the John Lewis classic Django ; Gil Evans plays it on the piano as a reminiscence of the playing of Lewis and Milt Jackson in the Modern Jazz Quartet in dialogue with Steve Lacy. Another duet by Johnny Coles and Lacy leads to the chorale- like repetition of the beginning. Chant of the Weed opens with Budd Johnson's clarinet; the rest of the title alternates between the characteristics of the Don Redman original and Budd Johnson's clarinet playing. The last title, Theme - the original version of La Nevada , which Evans re-recorded on Out of the Cool in 1960 - begins with a riff figure played by Evans, accompanied by Elvin Jones. The solo Budd Johnson's tenor saxophone is based on the theme . Guitarist Ray Crawford has another blues-influenced solo ; then Elvin Jones' drums with polyrhythmic figures follow. The theme returns with the final ensemble play.
Evans had worked out the heavily improvisational La Nevada with his band live in Birdland. This was one of the titles that remained in the band's repertoire for a long time and was intended to serve as a vehicle for the soloists' improvisations and ensemble playing. The arrangement of this modal theme included some orchestral passages and riffs that Gil Evans introduced with his piano playing “to lead the soloist to forge the musical drama. This type of arrangement - the sensitized participation of all musicians, not just the current soloist - became increasingly common in Gil [Evans'] work. ”The piece later became the recognizable theme of his big band; It was recorded much more extensively on the follow-up album Out of the Cool .
reception
In Allmusic gave Scott Yanow the album 4 stars and stated: "[...] this Gil Evans set has colorful arrangements of five jazz standards plus Ballad of the Sad Young Men and Evans' theme. [...] Evans contributes some very memorable written ensemble passages, most notably on Straight No Chaser . In addition to Lacy and Johnson, the main soloists are trumpeter Johnny Coles, trombonists Curtis Fuller and Jimmy Cleveland, and guitarist Ray Crawford. Highly recommended. "
Even Ian Carr stands in jazz - Rough Guide the album as one of the most important in the discography of the band leader out; "Evans' admiration for the entire jazz tradition emanates from the brilliant album."
Track list
- Gil Evans - Great Jazz Standards (World Pacific WP 1270)
- Davenport Blues ( Bix Beiderbecke ) - 4:26
- Straight No Chaser ( Thelonious Monk ) - 6:19
- Ballad of the Sad Young Men ( Fran Landesman , Tommy Wolf ) - 4:00
- Joy Spring ( Clifford Brown ) - 2:48
- Django ( John Lewis ) - 8:06
- Chant Of The Weed ( Don Redman ) - 4:25
- La Nevada [aka Theme ] (Gil Evans) - 6:17
- The album was recorded in New York City on February 5, 1959 (tracks 3, 4, 6 & 7) and early 1959 (tracks 1, 2 & 5).
literature
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
- Stephanie Stein Crease: Gil Evans: Out of the Cool - His Life and Music . Chicago: A Cappella Books / Chicago Review Press 2002; ISBN 978-1-55652-493-6 .