Bill Evans recorded a studio piano-duet album only once—The Ivory Hunters (1959), when he and Bob Brookmeyer both played the keyboards. He also recorded multiple piano overdubs for Conversations With Myself (1963) and Further Conversations With Myself (1967). And then there was From Left to Right, on which he played two different keyboards—the piano and the Fender Rhodes electric piano. But the only time he was recorded live playing a duet was in 1979, during his South American tour that included the live Bill Evans albums I posted about earlier this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It happened on September 29, 1979—two days after the Buenos Aires concert—when the Bill Evans Trio was in Rio de Janeiro. Working their way north, they were there to perform at Sala Cecília Meireles. After the concert that evening, the trio was persuaded by Brazilian pianist Luiz Eça, a member of the Tamba Trio, to come along to a nightclub in the affluent Lagoa district called Chiko’s Bar, where Eça played regularly. [Photo above of Luiz Eça]
When Evans, Johnson and Joe LaBarbera arrived, they were greeted warmly and asked to play a set. Chiko's was a piano bar, so there was no room for drums. Joe watched from the back of the club. Evans and Johnson proceeded to play a set. But after a break, when everyone was nice and loose, Evans shared the piano on several tracks, playing the upper register and Eça the lower, and Johnson on bass. Eça, of course, is the composer of the jazz standard The Dolphin, which Evans had recorded only once, on his From Left to Right album. [Album cover above shows Chiko's Bar in Rio]
An attorney at the club in the early hours of September 30 had the good sense to ask the club's DJ to record the music. When the impromptu gig ended, the attorney left the club with an hour-long reel. Thirty years later, in 2010, the bootleg tape was released by Jazz Lips, a British label, as Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands. Pay particular attention to Corcovado, as Evans and Eça huddle at the keyboard to go over the song and then launch into an incredible version. It's the only time Evans was recorded playing the bossa nova standard. And dig the duet on bossa-fied Stella by Starlight. Whew!
The tracks and players (including Brazilian pianist Cidinho and vocalist Lenny Andrade) are...
- Noelle's Theme—Bill Evans playing alone.
- Sem Título—Evans and Marc Johnson
- Who Can I Turn To—Evans and Johnson
- Letter to Evan—Evans and Johnson
- Laurie—Evans and Johnson
- Five—Evans and Johnson
A short break
- Wave—Lenny Andrade (vocal), Cidinho (piano) and Johnson
- Chorinho Pra Ele—Cidinho and and an unidentified bassist
- Letter to Evan—Evans, solo piano
- Laurie—Evans, solo piano
- Bill's Hit Tune—Evans and Eça, duet
- Corcovado—Evans and Eça, duet
- One Note Samba/Stella by Starlight—Eça plays the first song, Evans joins for a duet on the second
- E Nada Mais—Eça and Cidinho piano duet
Bill Evans died at age 51 in 1980; Luiz Eça died of a heart attack at age 56 in 1992.
Here's the entire bootleg free of ads. It's a remarkable document, both for the music and the warm and passionate Rio club atmosphere in which they played...
Other ad-free Backgrounders in this series:
