Bill Evans Trio DVD 2006 Rome Concert 1979 / Impro-Jazz / Bill Evans, Marc Johnson, Joe LaBarbera / Tv Broadcast - Live in Rome, Italy

UPC 8436028695157

REGION 0 PAL DVD (All regions)

AUDIO: English Stereo 

TOTAL RUNTIME: 44 MINUTES

!!! Condition of this DVD is USED VERY GOOD !!!

William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly worked as the leader of a trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continues to influence jazz pianists today.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, he was classically trained at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, in New York City, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album ever.

In early 1979, Bill Evans' beloved brother Harry died. The pianist was devastated and began a run that would lead to his own death on September 15, 1980. A wealth of wonderful music, however, was produced between those two events. On August 6 and 9, 1979, he went into the studio to record what would be his final
album, along with his regular bassist and drummer (Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera, respectively), and trumpeter Tom Harrell and soprano and tenor saxophonist Larry Schneider. The album was dedicated to his late brother Harry both explicitly and through the evocative title: "We Will Meet Again" (the name of a song Evans had composed and recorded for Harry when he was still alive in 1977 for the "You Must Believe in Spring’ album, and which he recorded again as a piano solo for this last LP).

Consumed by grief and addicted to drugs and alcohol, Evans nevertheless undertook a long international tour for the remaining months of 1979. Even if his studio recordings were scarce by then, some of his live performances of the period were fortunately taped and preserved for posterity. He was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 17, and in Louisiana on November 6, prior to his European tour. A number of performances were recorded there: one in Paris on November 26, one at the Balboa Club in Madrid, Spain, on December 11-12, and another one in Rome which has seen the light on CD.

The concert presented for the first time ever on this DVD is a completely different performance than the aforementioned one, and has never been previously released on any format, neither video nor audio. We hope you enjoy this fantastic document as much as we do.