The Riverside Recordings gathers the years in which Bill Evans established one of the most influential languages in modern jazz piano. Across these sessions, harmony becomes atmosphere, touch becomes structure and the traditional hierarchy of a piano trio begins to open into genuine three-way conversation. “Peace Piece” distils the Evans approach to its essentials: a repeating foundation, patient melodic thought and a stillness that grows more intense as the piece unfolds.
The collection also follows the extraordinary trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian. On “My Foolish Heart,” each musician listens as actively as he plays; LaFaro’s bass is an independent melodic presence, while Motian shapes time through suggestion and colour. “Waltz for Debby” combines that freedom with a melody of enduring grace. Evans’s Riverside work extends beyond one trio, however. Encounters with Cannonball Adderley and Jim Hall, solo performances and changing ensembles reveal how consistently his identity survived different settings. He could make a standard feel newly vulnerable, build momentum without heavy emphasis and place a chord so that the silence following it became part of the phrase. Heard at this scale, the recordings form a portrait of an artist developing in public without losing his inward concentration.
This Analogue Productions box contains 22 LPs, a substantial archival presentation for collectors who want to explore Evans’s Riverside period as a connected body of work rather than through isolated albums. The breadth is the attraction: landmark trios, collaborations and contrasting formats can be followed within one coherent edition. Michael 45 holds the goods in Germany and dispatches from Hilden, removing the need for a personal US import and the accompanying customs wait.
Artist page: All titles by Bill Evans
Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
How Michael hears this edition
Listening impression · paraphrased from the video
Using Portrait in Jazz from the Riverside box as his example, Michael describes a large, deep soundstage and abundant fine detail. Compared with the MoFi One-Step, his AP copy plays more quietly and sounds spatially larger. This assessment concerns this album within the box, not every album in the set.
Watch Michael’s video moment · 7:40
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
- Side 1
- MINORITY (5:20) (Gigi Gryce)
- YOUNG AND FOOLISH (5:48) (Horwit-Hague)
- Side 2
- LUCKY TO BE ME (3:35) (Comden, Green-Bernstein)
- NIGHT AND DAY (7:12) (Cole Porter)
- EPILOGUE (:38) (Bill Evans)
- Side 3
- TENDERLY (3:29) (Walter Gross)
- PEACE PIECE (6:37) (Bill Evans)
- Side 4
- WHAT IS THERE TO SAY? (4:49) (Harburg-Duke)
- OLEO (4:04) (Sonny Rollins)
- EPILOGUE (:38) (Bill Evans)
Explorations
- Side 1
- ISRAEL (6:08) (John Carisi)
- HAUNTED HEART (3:25) (Deitz-Schwartz)
- Side 2
- BEAUTIFUL LOVE (5:03) (Gillespie-King-Van Alstyne-Young)
- ELSA (5:05) (Earl Zindars)
- Side 3
- NARDIS (5:48) (Miles Davis)
- HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN? (3:30) (Irving Berlin)
- Side 4
- I WISH I KNEW (4:39) (Gordon-Warren)
- SWEET AND LOVELY (5:50) (Arnheim-Tobias-Lemare)
Portrait In Jazz
- Side 1
- COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (3:17) (Mercer-Arlen)
- AUTUMN LEAVES (5:22) (Mercer-Kosmo-Prevert)
- Side 2
- WITCHCRAFT (4:30) (Leigh-Coleman)
- WHEN I FALL IN LOVE (4:50) (Heyman-Young)
- PERIS SCOPE (3:11) (Bill Evans)
- Side 3
- WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE? (4:33) (Cole Porter)
- SPRING IS HERE (5:01) (Rodgers & Hart)
- Side 4
- SOME DAY MY PRINCE WILL COME (4:48) (Morey-Churchill)
- BLUE IN GREEN (5:18) (Davis-Evans)
At Shellys Manne-Hole, Hollywood
- Side 1
- ISNT IT ROMANTIC (4:34) (Rodgers, Hart)
- THE BOY NEXT DOOR (5:14) (Youmans, Harbach, Greene)
- Side 2
- WONDER WHY (5:05) (Brodszky, Cahn)
- SWEDISH PASTRY (5:35) (Barney Kessel)
- Side 3
- OUR LOVE IS HERE TO STAY (4:41) (G & I Gershwin)
- ROUND MIDNIGHT (8:50) (Monk, Williams)
- Side 4
- STELLA BY STARLIGHT (4:50) (Young, Washington)
- BLUES IN F (5:05) (Chuck Israels)
How My Heart Sings!
- Side 1
- HOW MY HEART SINGS (4:56) (Earl Zindars) Zindars Publ. Co.-BMI
- I SHOULD CARE (4:53) (Cahn-Stordahl-Weston) Cahn Music/ Hanover Music/Stordahl Music-ASCAP
- Side 2
- IN YOUR OWN SWEET WAY (6:57) (Dave Brubeck) Derry Music Co.-BMI
- WALKING UP (4:54) (Bill Evans) TRO-Acorn-BMI
- Side 3
- SUMMERTIME (5:56) (Gershwin-Heyward-Gershwin) Chappell & Co., Inc./Gershwin Publ.-ASCAP
- 34 SKIDOO (6:19) (Bill Evans) TRO-Acorn-BMI
- Side 4
- EVRYTHING I LOVE (4:11) (Cole Porter) Chappell Music-ASCAP
- SHOW-TYPE TUNE (4:23) (Bill Evans) TRO-Acorn-BMI
Interplay
- Side 1
- YOU AND THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC (7:03) (Dietz-Schwartz) (ASCAP)
- Side 2
- WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR (5:42) (Washington-Harline) (ASCAP)
- ILL NEVER SMILE AGAIN (6:30) (Ruth Lowe) (ASCAP)
- Side 3
- INTERPLAY (8:11) (Bill Evans) (BMI)
- Side 4
- YOU GO TO MY HEAD (5:02) (Gillespie-Coots) (ASCAP)
- WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS (6:24) (Moll-Koehler-Barris) (ASCAP)
Moonbeams
- Side 1
- RE: PERSON I KNEW (5:42) (Bill Evans) TRO-Acorn-BMI
- POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS (4:57) (Burke-Van Heusen) Bourne Co./Music Sales Corp.-ASCAP
- Side 2
- I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY (2:39) (Styne-Cahn) SBK Feist Catalog-ASCAP
- STAIRWAY TO THE STARS (4:48) (Parish-Malneck-Signorelli) SBK Robbins Catalog-ASCAP
- Side 3
- IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW (4:24) (Dameron-Sigman) SBK Robbins Catalog ASCAP
- IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING (6:03)(Rodgers-Hammerstein) Williamson Music ASCAP
- Side 4
- IN LOVE IN VAIN (4:56) (Kern-Robin) T.B. Harms, Inc.-ASCAP
- VERY EARLY (5:04) (Bill Evans) TRO-Acorn-BMI
Waltz for Debby
- Side 1
- MY FOOLISH HEART (4:56)
- WALTZ FOR DEBBY (6:54)
- Side 2
- Side 3
- Side 4
- SOME OTHER TIME (5:02)
- MILESTONES (6:37)
Sunday at the Village Vanguard
- Side 1
- GLORIAS STEP (6:05) (Scott LaFaro) Orpheum Music-BMI
- Side 2
- SOLAR (8:51) (Miles Davis) Prestige Music-BMI
- Side 3
- ALICE IN WONDERLAND (8:32) (Fain-Hilliard) Walt Disney Music-ASCAP
- Side 4
- ALL OF YOU (8:20) (Cole Porter) Chappell Music-ASCAP
- JADE VISIONS (3:46) (Scott LaFaro) Orpheum Music-BMI
Know What I Mean?
- Side 1
- WALTZ FOR DEBBY (5:14)
- GOODBYE (6:12)
- Side 2
- WHO CARES? (take 5) (5:53)
- VENICE (2:51)
- Side 3
- Side 4
- NANCY (WITH THE LAUGHING FACE) (4:07)
- KNOW WHAT I MEAN? (re-take 7) (4:55)
New Jazz Conceptions
- Side 1
- I Love You
- Five
- I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good
- Side 2
- Conception
- Easy Living
- Displacement
- Side 3
- Speak Low
- Waltz for Debby
- Our Delight
- Side 4
- My Romance
- No Cover, No Minimum
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