Undercurrent

Bill Evans, Jim Hall - Undercurrent

Undercurrent
List Price: $11.94
Our Price: $4.75
You Save: $7.19 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.74 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

Music CD Cover

Artist: Bill Evans, Jim Hall
Brand: EVANS,B/HALL,J
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2002-07-16
Music Label: Blue Note Records
Soundtracks:
  1. My Funny Valentine
  2. I Hear A Rhapsody
  3. Dream Gypsy
  4. Romain
  5. Skating In Central Park
  6. Darn That Dream
  7. Stairway To The Stars
  8. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
  9. My Funny Valentine (alternate take)
  10. Romain (alternate take)

Free Music Notes for Undercurrent

Free Music Review: Inventing (and perfecting) a Jazz Format
Hit: 5 Stars

While there is some precedent in early blues records for the piano/guitar format(Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr come to mind), Bill Evans and Jim Hall are THE innovators for this instrumentation in jazz - their achievements on "Undercurrent" and "Intermodulation" established the standard by which subsequent piano/guitar sessions, including those of Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson ("a Salle Pleyel"); Joe Pass and Jimmy Rowles ("Checkmate"); Bill Frisell and Fred Hersch ("Songs We Know"); John Abercrombie and Andy LaVerne ("Timeless", "A Nice Idea", "Nosmo King"); and, in some tangential way, Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey (On FMP's 1988 11 CD Cecil Taylor in Berlin release), are judged.

In their duet recordings, Evans and Hall first grappled successfully with some very tough issues that arise in piano/guitar duets - in this context, it can be very difficult to keep the instruments from stepping on each other's lines, but Evans and Hall each manage to carve out independent roles for themselves that each contribute to a very cohesive whole. To my ear, Evans is at the top of his game during these sessions, while Hall was only beginning to develop into the master that he is today (This is not to denigrate Hall's acheivement, but to point out that a great player then became substantially more accomplished over the next 40 years). From that perspective, these are Evans' sessions - his voicings, solos and accompaniments in these sessions outshine Hall's, and I can almost feel Evans accommodating some of Hall's less successful strategies. Still, the sum of their contributions is a beautiful, subtle mosaic of wonderful, meditative versions of standards.

It is instructive to compare the Evans/Hall sessions to some of the others mentioned above. Joe Pass and Jimmy Rowles come closest to duplicating the chemistry of the Evans/Hall sessions, except that Pass dominates "Checkmate" in the way that Evans dominates "Undercurrent". Pass and Peterson are almost too accomplished as soloists to cooperate on duets - their duets, which come after each plays a number of solo pieces, sound more like simultaneous solos that cooperative undertakings (although I can hear them smiling while they're playing). Frisell and Hersch create - what? sound tapestries? - that are not quite as experimental as the songs that Frisell was making with other bands at the time, but not quite as interesting, either - almost as if they were hampered by sticking to standards rather than playing in the genres they are most familiar with.

The most interesting comparison is to the Abercrombie/LaVerne recordings "Timeless" and "A Nice Idea". These sessions include a substantial number of the tunes that Evans and Hall recorded, but they are executed by musicians who are much later in their careers than Evans and especially Hall were at the time of the "Undercurrent" and "Intermodulation" sessions. Abercrombie applies a very modern harmonic system to the tunes, using scales and substitutions that were simply not used in the early 60's. While Hall used a standard Gibson hollowbody guitar that produced at easily recognizable tone, Abercrombie uses custom built guitars and sophisticated electronics to create a very distinctive, although much more synthetic, tone. On many of the Evans/Hall songs, Hall uses full chord strumming to accompany Evans - Abercrombie walks bass lines while simultaneously playing fills and chords to create a more textured context for LaVerne's solos. LaVerne, on the other hand, plays in a style that is very reminiscent of Evans throughout these discs - that's hardly a criticism, except that where Evans, Hall and Abercrombie are reaching new heights in the form, LaVerne is maintaining a very high quality status quo.

How to rate these albums? "Undercurrent" and "Intermodulation" get five stars for getting there first and remaining beautiful after all these years. "Checkmate", "a Salle Pleyel" and "Songs We Know" are wonderful, but do not acheive the level of innovation of the Evans/Hall sessions. And Abercrombie and LaVerne have, to my ear, pushed the envelope of mainstream piano/guitar duets even further, and get five stars for doing so.

As to Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey - well, that's not really a standards disc, is it?

Undercurrent Poster

No description available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Rating:
Release Date: 0000-00-00
Media Type: Compact Disk

Jazz Music CDs

Music Genres
Top music charts in Jazz Music CDs
Blood, Spirit, Land, Water, Freedom ImageCurtis Brothers Quartet - Blood, Spirit, Land, Water, Freedom
Release date: 2009-10-01; Music CD
Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS] ImageJazz Casuals: Coltrane Basie & Mcrae - Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS]
Rhino / Wea; Release date: 1999-05-04; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops: $39.98
Jazz Legend 2 [VHS] ImageBuddy Rich - Jazz Legend 2 [VHS]
Warner Brothers Pub.; Release date: 2000-10-20; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $11.90
Price in other shops: $39.95
Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS] ImageLes Paul - Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS]
Bmg Video Label; Release date: 1993-02-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops: $19.98
Hurricane [VHS] ImageHerbie Hancock - Hurricane [VHS]
View Video; Release date: 1992-04-07; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.50
Cocktails for Two ImageCocktails for Two
by band leader Spike Jones, Del Porter, Mel Blanc & Quartet, Jim Cassidy & The City Slickers
Music CD
Best price: $19.95
Dave Grusin and the NY/LA Dream Band [VHS] ImageDave Grusin - Dave Grusin and the NY/ LA Dream Band [VHS]
Umgd; Release date: 1990-06-26; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $19.99
Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS] ImageCount Basie, Diane Schuur - Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS]
Grp Records; Release date: 1996-01-30; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $19.98
Damals in Hamburg ImageDamals in Hamburg
Release date: 1999-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $22.96
Ben Webster ImageBen Webster - Ben Webster
Release date: 2006-12-20; Music CD
Price in other shops: $50.98
Top Rated Albums
You Must Believe in Spring ImageBill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring
EVANS,BILL; Release date: 2004-02-03; Music CD
Best price: $5.33
Price in other shops: $11.98
Concierto ImageJim Hall - Concierto
Release date: 2008-02-01; Music CD
Best price: $2.61
Price in other shops: $6.99
Everybody Digs Bill Evans: Keepnews Collection ImageBill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans: Keepnews Collection
Release date: 2007-06-05; Music CD
Best price: $6.70
Price in other shops: $11.98
Alone ImageBill Evans - Alone
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.04
Price in other shops: $14.98
Legendary Sessions ImageChet Baker & Bill Evans - Legendary Sessions
Release date: 2009-12-29; Music CD
Best price: $11.37
Price in other shops: $17.98
Intermodulation ImageBill Evans, Jim Hall - Intermodulation
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops: $11.98
Waltz for Debby ImageBill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby
Release date: 2010-09-28; Music CD
Best price: $4.61
Price in other shops: $11.98
Portrait in Jazz ImageBill Evans - Portrait in Jazz
EVANS,BILL; Release date: 2008-03-04; Music CD
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: $11.98
Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961 ImageBill Evans - Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961
EVANS,BILL; Release date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $21.18
Price in other shops: $29.98
Moon Beams ImageBill Evans - Moon Beams
EVANS,BILL TRIO; Release date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $4.52
Price in other shops: $11.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles