In January 1963, producer Orrin Keepnews brought Bill Evans into the studio to record solo. It's unclear whether Orrin did this to bank away Evans tapes prior to him signing with Verve or whether this was done because Evans needed cash and Keepnews decided to record him in order to advance him payment. Either way, the material wasn't released until 1984, when the tracks were included in Bill Evans: The Complete Riverside Recordings in 1984 and, again in 1989, when the stand-alone solo sessions were released in two parts on Milestone, co-founded by Orrin and Dick Katz.
Evans's first leadership album was New Jazz Conceptions in 1956 and included three solo tracks. There also were four solo tracks on Everybody Digs Bill Evans in 1958 and a solo version of Tadd's Delight on Tony Scott's I'll Remember in 1959 that was never issued.
When the Evans solo sessions for Orrin were recorded, Riverside was already on the skids. Evans signed with Creed Taylor's Verve label soon after and in February recorded Conversations With Myself, featuring Evans playing three overdubbed solo tracks. In December 1963, Orrin's Riverside partner, the business-minded Bill Grauer, suffered a heart attack, and the label folded in July 1964. [Photo above of Bill Evans in 1961 for a publicity still by Steve Schapiro]
Here's the complete Bill Evans Solo Sessions, Vol. 1, without ad interruptions...
Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:
- Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
- Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
- Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
- Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
- Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
- Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
- Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
- Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
- Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
- Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
- Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.
- Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Lightly, go here.
- Charles Earland: Charles Earland, go here.
- Kenny Burrell: Crash! w/ Jack McDuff, go here.
- Jack McDuff: The Heatin' System, go here.
- Horace Silver: Horace-Scope, go here.
- Antonio Carlos Jobim: Wave, go here.
- Sonny Stitt: Sonny Stitt Plays, go here.
- Sonny Stitt with Bennie Green: My Main Man, go here.
- Johnny Hodges and Earl Hines: Stride Right, go here.
- Lionel Hampton: Bossa Nova Jazz, go here.
- Johnny Hodges & Ben Webster: Cellar Session, go here.
