The Bill Evans Album | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | End of August/early September 1971[1] | |||
Recorded | May 11–12, 17, 19–20 and June 9, 1971[2] | |||
Studio | CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 70:27 | |||
Label | Columbia C 30855 | |||
Producer | Helen Keane | |||
Bill Evans chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [3] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [4] |
The Bill Evans Album is a recording by the jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1971 on the Columbia label. It was his first album to feature all compositions written (or co-written), arranged, and performed by him. On the record, Evans plays both an acoustic and a Fender Rhodes electric piano.
Of the album's seven compositions, four were new for this project: "The Two Lonely People," "Sugar Plum," "T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)," and "Comrade Conrad."[5] Of these, "The Two Lonely People" would become a regular part of the pianist's performing repertoire and was recorded many times.[6] "T.T.T." is a tone row composition, employing the serial technique of composer Arnold Schoenberg; however, Evans "clothe[d] the line with diatonic harmony" and believed that twelve-tone music "was incompatible with the art of improvising."[7]
The title of the song "Re: Person I Knew" (recorded first on his 1962 Moon Beams album) is an anagram of the name of Evans's longtime producer, Orrin Keepnews.[8] The lineup of Evans originals is rounded out by two of his best-known compositions, "Funkallero," which although previously recorded by the pianist on several occasions was first released here,[9] and "Waltz for Debby."
A recording of Evans's composition "Fun Ride" was also made during these sessions and later collected on the compilation Piano Player (1998).[10]
The Bill Evans Album was reissued, with three bonus alternative tracks, by Sony in 2005.
The cover image is based on a photograph taken by music photographer Don Hunstein.