AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Bill Evans

Artist:Bill Evans

Song:Emily

Album:Quiet Now: Never Let Me Go

This is part of My Jazz for Beginners series complete with an affordable comp and a performance video. A while back, I wrote about pianist Bill Evans' Riverside albums. He recorded for Riverside from 1957-62 and recorded for Verve until 1969. Riverside was having financial problems and declared bankruptcy in 1964. At the time, Evans was not in good condition. The 1961 death of bassist Scott LaFaro put Evans in a tailspin and his heroin addiction got worse. His girlfriend Elaine Schultz was also an addict. They moved to his parents house in Florida and both kicked the habit. So now he's looking for a new label. Norman Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1960. The man in charge at Verve was Creed Taylor. There's no question that Taylor is a more commercial producer than Riverside's Orrin Keepnews. But Evans had to record somewhere and Verve was better than most other options. After Evans appeared on the 1962 album Empathy with Monty Budwig on bass and Shelly Manne on drums, Evans signed with Verve. His first album for Verve was the 1963 album Conversations with Myself. This is solo piano with overdubs. I know that will drive some jazz fans crazy. But the album was very successful and it won a Grammy. With that success, it's not surprising that Taylor wanted to do a sequel. That was the 1967 album Further Conversations with Myself. As with the first album, this is solo piano with overdubs. Helen Keane produced. She produced many jazz artists. Emily was the most popular song from this album as it wasn't a well known song. Johnny Mercer and Johnny Mandel wrote Emily for the 1964 film The Americanization of Emily but it wasn't used in the film. Frank Sinatra and Jack Jones recorded the song. Then Evans recorded it and so did Paul Desmond in 1969. Both performed Emily for many years. You can get Emily on this comp which is available as a digital download. The most significant event for Evans was when he met bassist Eddie Gomez in 1966. Drummer Marty Morell joined in 1968. They were together until 1975. So I might look at that trio in the future. Here's Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell performing Emily.