The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix

The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix
Gil Evans studio album
Publication (s)	1975
Label (s)	RCA Victor , Bluebird
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	jazz
Title (number)	9/12
occupation	Piano , electric piano , conductor : Gil Evans Trumpet : Lew Soloff , Hannibal Marvin Peterson Trombone , bass trombone , flute , synthesizer : Tom Malone Tuba , bass clarinet : Howard Johnson French horn , synthesizer: Peter Gordon French Horn: Pete Levin Alto saxophone , soprano saxophone , flute : David Sanborn Tenor saxophone , flute : Billy Harper Alto saxophone, flute, tenor saxophone: Trevor Koehler Guitar : John Abercrombie , Ryō Kawasaki , Keith Loving Keyboards : David Horowitz Double bass : Don Pate Bass guitar : Michael Moore Drums : Bruce Ditmas Percussion : Susan Evans , Warren Smith
production	Mike Lipskin
Studio (s)	RCA Studio B, New York City
chronology Svengali (1973) The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix There Comes a Time (1975)

Jimi Hendrix

The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix is a jazz album by the Gil Evans Orchestra . It was recorded in New York City on June 11, 12, and 13, 1974 , and released by RCA Victor that same year . In 1988 Bluebird Records released a version on compact disc with five bonus tracks .

The album

Gil Evans had already become aware of the music of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1968 ; that year he used his song And the Wind Cries Mary for the opening chords of Mademoiselle Mabry , which he had designed with Miles Davis for his album Filles de Kilimanjaro . Evans then met Hendrix in 1969 while mixing his album Gil Evans in New York's "Record Plant" studio, when he was busy with his own recordings a few rooms away. Anita Evans recalls:

"There were a few dates when we were there simultaneously, but it didn't get personal. He came in a few times to hear what we were mixing. "

The idea for a deeper collaboration between Evans and Jimi Hendrix arose in the spring of 1970, when both Miles Davis and Evans were strongly influenced by Hendrix's music. Both had adopted harmonic motifs from the guitarist for their own compositions and both bandleaders had taken expressive guitarists into their ensembles. Hendrix himself wanted to expand his musical horizons with his band of Gypsys at this time ; he also made frequent visits to New York to jam with jazz musicians such as John McLaughlin , Tony Williams and Larry Young . Alan Douglas , music producer and de facto manager in Hendrix's last phase of life, was able to convince him to work with Gil Evans. After his tour in August 1970 it was planned that Hendrix should record an album with the arranger. Hendrix set the titles; but he never returned to New York (he died on September 18, 1970 in London).

Four years later, Gil Evans and his band wanted to dedicate a concert to the memory of Jimi Hendrix for the New York Jazz Repertory Concerts; some musicians, such as Tom Malone , Trevor Koehler and Howard Johnson , then took over arrangements. The concert on June 8, 1974, however, did not go smoothly; the acoustics were also poor, as Carnegie Hall is not suitable for a combination of acoustic and electrically amplified instruments. Evans had three guitarists, an electric bass player and three synthesizer players in addition to the keyboards. A few days after the concert, Evans recorded with his nineteen-member ensemble for the RCA Victor label, which had signed a contract with him for two albums. Only two arrangements of the original record are by Evans himself, Castles Made of Sand and Up from the Skies , the others were written by Tom Malone, Warren Smith , Trevor Koehler and David Horowitz.

reception

According to Evans biographer Stephanie Stein Crease, the album is a "general store;" even if it is a great challenge to translate Hendrix's unique style into the orchestral world of Evans, the album sounds largely lighter than any album by Hendrix or Evans. Hendrix researcher John Perry similarly said in his monograph on Electric Ladyland that Evans album shows that Hendrix's music can be used by its surroundings, but that it doesn't leave enough space for Hendrix to fill.

In Allmusic gave Scott Yanow the album 4½ stars and stated: "Evans' arrangements uplift many of Hendrix's more blues-oriented Compositions and create a memorable set did is rock-oriented but RETAIN the improvisation of jazz and personality."

The Down Beat gave the album five stars; In his review for the Village Voice newspaper , Peter Occhiogrosso wrote that the album was "commercial in the sense that records of it would be sold and it would be on the radio [...] If there is a god in heaven, the album will sell ( not Evans fans), the band will have some work for a change, and we'll soon get a proper Gil Evans album instead of this almost elegant curiosity. "

Even Ian Carr raised in Jazz - Rough Guide the album as one of the most important in the discography of the band leader out and said that although only three of the nine arrangements were from Evans, it is a remarkable fusion of rock and jazz.

effect

His Hendrix album made Evans something like "the gray-haired eminence of the Fusion camp". Even if the album did not meet commercial expectations (especially outside the jazz audience), the Hendrix arrangements became an integral part of his work: From 1974 the Evans Orchestra had two Hendrix titles in its program for each performance; Versions of Hendrix compositions such as Voodoo Chile were also made during further recordings .

Track list

• The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (APD1-0667 (US), LSA 3197 (UK), RCA CPLI 0667-LP, CD: ND88409)

1. Angel - 4:10
2. Crosstown Traffic / Little Miss Lover - 6:32
3. Castles Made of Sand / Foxy Lady - 11:23
4. Up From the Skies - 6:36
5. Up From the Skies - 7:29 (bonus track)
6. 1983 - A Merman I Should Turn to Be - 5:03
7. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - 3:42
8. Gypsy Eyes - 6:43
9. Angel - 4:09 (bonus track)
10. Castles Made of Sand - 5:08 (bonus track)
11. Up From the Skies - 10:15 (bonus track)
12. Gypsy Eyes - 3:23 (bonus track)

All compositions are by Jimi Hendrix. The arrangements are by Gil Evans ([4], [9]), who also wrote an arrangement ([3]) together with Warren Smith, as well as Tom Malone ([1], [2]), David Horowitz ([6] ), Howard Johnson ([7]) and Trevor Koehler ([8]).

The track Little Wing , also recorded at the session in an Evans arrangement, was released on the album There Comes a Time (RCA APLI 1-1057).

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. A Cappella Books / Chicago Review Press, Chicago 2002; ISBN 978-1-55652-493-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stein Crease, p. 267.
2. ↑ Stein Crease, p. 269 f.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Stein Crease, p. 289 f.
4. ↑ Stein Crease, p. 290: “The Album is a mixed bag. Translating Hendrix's singular voice and style into Gil's orchestral terms is challenging, and most of the album sounds more lightweight than either Hendrix's or Gil's music did on its own. The album had neither Hendrix 'tossed off "complexity cloaked in nonchalance," as one reviewer describes it, nor Gil's band at its most transcendent. "
5. ↑ John Perry Electric Ladyland London 2002, p. 128
6. ^ Review of the album The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix by Scott Yanow at Allmusic . Retrieved September 15, 2011.
7. ↑ Quoted from Stein Crease, p. 290
8. ^ Ian Carr, Jazz Rough Guide, p. 202.
9. Jump up ↑ Jack Chambers: Milestones 2. The Music and Times of Miles Davis Since 1960 , Beech Tree Books, William Morrow, New York, 1985, p. 219
10. ↑ Stein Crease, p. 291
11. ↑ Cf. The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix at Discogs , for a different title sequence and the indication of the soloists cf. Gil Evans Discography (Katsuji Sudo)