Bill Evans: In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
Elemental Music

No matter his physical condition or the quality of the piano he was presented with, Bill Evans always brought the magic, and this latest archival live recording from Elemental Music provides another invaluable sampling of his gifts. Available in double-LP and single-CD formats and prepped for release by Zev Feldman, In Norway: The 1970 Kongsberg Concert features Evans with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell on June 26, 1970 at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. Par for the Elemental course, the release is enhanced by a booklet, this one containing liner notes by jazz writer Marc Myers, recent interviews with Gomez, Morell, and Norwegian pianist Roy Hellvin (who was in the audience at the performance), and commentaries by pianists Aaron Parks, Eliane Elias, and Craig Taborn. A personable interview with Evans conducted by Norwegian critic Randi Hultin at the festival brings additional context and insight to the eighty-minute recording.

In some ways, it's a prototypical Evans trio performance—the set-list, for example, includes many signature pieces from his repertoire—but in a least two respects it's different from other live recordings by the pianist. A few selections stand out for being less familiar, Michel Legrand's “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” a case in point, but what stands out even more is the feverish energy the trio bring to certain tracks. The suggestion's made that Evans move to wean himself off his chronic heroin habit with a supervised methadone program might have factored into the boost in energy, and certainly the breathless animation of some tracks would seem to support that. His customary taste, lyricism, sensitivity, and intelligence are present but intensity too.

Being attuned to the introspective Norwegian sensibility, the pianist included melancholy tunes such as “Turn Out the Stars,”“Some Other Time,” and “Quiet Now” that he thought would connect with listeners. But even in these cases, the pace with which they're delivered is livelier than usual. Regardless of such alterations, the arc of the set-list aligns with Evans' preference for one that starts reservedly, fluctuates thereafter between breezy and reflective numbers, and ends on an energetic high (an encore of Miles Davis's “Nardis” in this case). Gomez, who'd been with the trio for four years at the time of this recording, and Morell, who joined two years after the bassist, complement Evans terrifically and are responsive to the pianist's every gesture. During the ballads, the two support Evans with nuanced understatement; when things heat up, they drive the material with muscularity. Hear the fury that's unleashed in the coda to “Autumn Leaves” and in the trio's urgent takes on “Who Can I Turn To?” and Miles Davis's “So What.”

Other surprises arise too. Following an elegant intro to Harold Arlen's set-opening “Come Rain or Come Shine,” the first solo goes to Gomez, not the leader, before the trio digs in, the bassist and Morell driving the groove and the pianist responding in kind (it's also the first of many solos by Gomez during the concert). The mood then turns pensive for an eloquent reading of “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?,” the song's plaintive melodies and tone tailor-made for Evans and a time capsule treatment if ever there was one. He also goes deep for Denny Zeitlin's “Quiet Now,” which blossoms from a lovely, chords-heavy solo intro into an enveloping statement that both swings and probes; alone again before the close, Evans continues his thoughtful examination of the material. His patient handling of Leonard Bernstein's “Some Other Time” similarly engenders a heartfelt study in introspection.

December 2024