Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate

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Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate
Live album by Bill Evans

Publication
(s)

2012

Label (s) Resonance Records

Format (s)

2 CD, 3 LP

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

17th

running time

1:29:54

occupation

production

Zev Feldman

Studio (s)

Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate, Greenwich Village, New York City

chronology
Consecration 2
(2006) 		Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest
(2016)

Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate is a jazz album by Bill Evans that was recorded at New York's Top of the Gate jazz club in 1968 and was released on Resonance Records in June 2012 .

background

In October 1968, pianist Bill Evans performed eight days at the New York club Top of the Gate . The recording Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate documents Bill Evans' trio with bassist Eddie Gomez (who had played with him since 1966) and drummer Marty Morell in the first few weeks of the band's existence. Gomez had been with Evans since 1966, while Morell joined in 1968 to succeed Jack DeJohnette and John Dentz .

Session engineer George Klabin received permission from Evans' manager Helen Keane to record the two appearances for his broadcast on the Columbia University program, and although he did not get a sound check before the concert began , his microphone was closed during the concert place and customize. Instead of setting up a microphone on the stage or in the back of the room in the Top of the Gate , a venue on the upper floor of Greenwich's legendary The Village Gate , Klabin equipped every musician with it; Bill Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez, and drummer Marty Morell got their own microphones, and the set was mixed live, so the fidelity here is really remarkable, wrote Matthew Fiander.

“For those interested in history and context, it also helps that there are some rare and early performances here, wrote Matthew Finder; 'Witchcraft', which was played after the quiet 'Emily' in the first set, was originally recorded in the Studio for Portrait in Jazz (1959) and this is the only other recording of the piece. It is also the first time that he has recorded both 'My Funny Valentine' and 'Yesterdays' with a trio. In fact, this entire recording, which originally aired on Columbia's WKCR-FW, has never been officially released. ”Each disc in the edition contains a full set, including two versions of three songs. There is an Evans original (“Turn Out the Stars”); the rest are jazz standards and familiar show tunes.

The album includes notes on the time the recordings were made and comments from Nat Hentoff , Gary Burton , Eddie Gomez, Marty Morell, George Klabin, Raphael D'Lugoff and Zev Feldman, as well as historical photographs of the artists and the interior of the club.

Track list

  • Bill Evans: Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate (Resonance Records - HCD-2012)
CD1 - First Set
  1. Emily (Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer ) 4:50
  2. Witchcraft ( Cy Coleman ) 5:48
  3. Yesterdays ( Jerome David Kern ) 5:13
  4. 'Round Midnight ( Thelonious Monk ) 6:29
  5. My Funny Valentine ( Rodgers & Hart ) 4:48
  6. California Here I Come ( Al Jolson , Buddy DeSylva , Joseph Meyers ) 5:40
  7. Gone with the Wind ( Allie Wrubel , Herb Magidson ) 7:01
  8. Alfie ( Burt Bacharach ) 5:15
  9. Turn Out the Stars (Bill Evans) 4:45
CD 2 - Second Set
  1. Yesterdays (J. Kern) 4:50
  2. Emily (Almond, Mercer) 5:13
  3. In a Sentimental Mood ( Duke Ellington ) 4:11
  4. 'Round Midnight (Monk) 6:28
  5. Autumn Leaves ( Joseph Kosma ) 5:37
  6. Someday My Prince Will Come ( Frank Churchill , Larry Morey ) 5:13
  7. Mother Of Earl ( Earl Zindar ) 4:24
  8. Here's That Rainy Day ( Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen ) 5:18

reception

Ken Dryden rated the album 4½ (from%) in Allmusic, writing: “There have been many posthumous releases with various Bill Evans trios since the pianist's death in 1980, but Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate stands for several reasons over most of them. ”On the one hand it was the first recording of this trio, on the other hand the sound engineer George Klabin succeeded in capturing the intimacy of the trio, without distortion and with very little chatter from the often noisy audience of Manhattan in the late 1960s . The renditions of some of the songs, familiar to all fans familiar with Evans' repertoire, in some cases portrayed an early live trio recording or one of the earliest recordings of certain songs. The author highlights how quickly the chemistry between the three of them evolves Musicians developed as a unit; "Evans is carried by Morell's light beating on the drums and his subtle broom gesture, as well as Gomez's inventive bass lines, and it's no wonder he's stayed with the pianist for over eleven years.

Some of the numbers would be repeated on both evenings, ”added Dryden, including the interpretations of“ Yesterdays ”, the melodically rich treatments of“ Round Midnight ”and the two floating interpretations of“ Emily ”. “Evans' fans will be pleased with his introspective, somewhat veiled arrangement of 'California, Here I Come', the dazzling elaboration of ' Autumn Leaves ', and the magical game of' Someday My Prince Will Come '. One can only hope that George Klabin, owner of the Resonance label, recorded many other shows on the Top of the Gate and received permission to output these recordings. This set of two CDs is considered essential by Bill Evans collectors. "

Larry Taylor wrote in All About Jazz , “Gomez was a master at improvisation, while Morell was an energetic, no-nonsense drummer who kept the trio on track. Together with the leader, both contribute masterly solos here. ”'Round Midnight is presented“ in a number of prominent points thoughtfully with heavy chords for punctuation in the style of its composer Thelonious Monk . However, Evans delivers it in his own unique way, fueled by Morell's extroverted drumming. A revised version of 'Autumn Leaves' offers a tasteful bass solo and is spiced up by the band leader's swinging piano. A chirping 'Someday My Prince Will Come' begins as a cool ballad before it turns into a fiery foray. There are numerous surprises in Evans' approaches, such as the unconventional treatment of the old Al Jolson favorite 'California Here I Come'. "

To be on safe ground, there are also the typical elegant Evans titles, according to Taylor, such as "My Funny Valentine" and "Emily". "We can really be grateful," the author sums up, "that Klabin had the foresight to put these tapes away so that he could open them now."

Thomas Conrad said in JazzTimes , “In the new millennium, archival records with previously unreleased music have become a jazz record phenomenon. They are so widespread that most jazz polls have now changed their 'Reissue' category to 'Historic / Reissue' so new recordings don't have to compete with ungrounded masterpieces. And there were some masterpieces: In Carnegie Hall by Monk and Coltrane; Roadshows Vol. 1 by Sonny; Echoes of Indiana Avenue by Wes; Live in Europe 1967 by Miles. Now there's another one: October 23, 1968, two complete sets by Bill Evans at the top of the gate in Greenwich Village.

Evans played maybe 200 nights in 1968 and this was just another gig, which is why the glow of the piano playing is amazing. Fast pieces like 'Autumn Leaves' are explosions of positive poetry. Slow pieces like 'Alfie' are profound existential investigations, personal and universal, that are lit from within by Evans' chord voicings. In both versions of 'Emily', he transforms the first melodic character into a devastating human longing by gently touching it. Gene Lee's famous description of Evans' music is' love letters written to the world from a prison of the heart '. There are some deep love letters in these two sentences. But even with a piece as crystal clear as the last track, 'Here's That Rainy Day,' Evans builds passionate urgency. By 1968, especially in a live setting, he was a less introverted pianist than the one who had made the legendary Village Vanguard recordings seven years ago. Eddie Gomez is quick and flamboyant in his sophomore year eleven years as Evans bassist. Drummer Marty Morell never does solos. He was brand new to the trio, understandably timid, but already sensitive with his energy.

Archival records are all about the package, and the package here is cool: memories, photos, memorabilia, undisguised nostalgia. There's even a reproduction of the American Federation of Musicians contract for engagement signed by Evans. '$ 1000 in cash to the leader weekly'. The main virtue of the package is the sound. George Klabin, now President of Resonance Records, was a 22-year-old engineer in 1968. He also had his own jazz radio show on a Columbia University FM station. Klabin recorded the two sets on a Crown cassette recorder with four good microphones, mixed them live on two tracks and broadcast them once on his show. Evans' piano isn't perfectly focused, but this shot offers enough air and life to make time travel easier. Forty-four years collapse and we're here. "

Matthew Fiander wrote in Pop Matters , amid the spate of rediscovered historical recordings in jazz, “If you're dealing with someone like Bill Evans, who has [recorded] two classic live albums - Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby - It's even harder to believe that a new two-disc live set - in this case Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate - would be a valuable addition to your collection. And yet it is surprising. ”This is due, if not entirely, to the sound engineer George Klabin, who contributed to the fidelity of the sound with his microphone installation. “What you get here is not just clarity, but also intimacy. You feel what it could be like when you get up close and personal with Evans crouching over his piano and listening to the keys as he lets out bright, heartfelt versions, most of which have become classics. "

Even if this Evans trio is “ nowhere near as famous” as its original line-up of Scott Lofaro and Paul Motian, Gomez and Morell would play “damn well” on this set. “On the one hand, they hold up more than with Evans' percussive, sprinting note track, his fast phrases on the keys and his uncanny shifts in mood and tempo. You can switch from the exciting, lively train of 'Yesterday' to the covered, atmospheric […] 'Round Midnight' without missing a beat. Not only that, but both players have a chance to stretch out and play solo, and they add an extra immediacy to the process. You can feel how they grasp the songs intuitively right away. These are not memorized melodies, they are felt deep in the blood. ”On Top of the Gate, the trio managed to create“ brilliant versions of some true jazz standards ”; her "My Funny Valentine" is short, but full of energy; "Someday My Prince Will Come" is relaxed and playful. Other songs, including "Round Midnight" and "Emily" "feel fresh, like players discover something new every time they play these songs."

"If you're immersed in music, it is almost like the excellent Sunday at the Village Vanguard or Waltz for Debby [from 1961]," says Matthew Fiander. “When the music is playing, you feel at the front table, but in between you are reminded of how much time and distance there is between you and the contents of the recording. In the end, you get just the right feel for the music here, and this is a series of jazz sounds that every fan should own, but the feel of the entire performance just gets lost in the broadcast. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Discographic information at Discogs
  2. ↑ a b Review of the album Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate by Ken Dryden on Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d Matthew Fiander: Bill Evans: Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate. Pop Matters, June 26, 2012, accessed March 21, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Bill Evans: Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate. All About Jazz, June 5, 2012, accessed March 21, 2019 .
  5. ^ Thomas Conrad: Bill Evans: Live at Art D'Lugoff's Top of the Gate. JazzTimes, August 3, 2012, accessed March 21, 2019 .