Resonance Records gjør det igjen.
19. april 2019 slipper tidligere uutgitte opptak med henholdsvis Bill Evans Trio og Wes Montgomery på to dobbelt-CDer. Albumet med Bill Evans — «Evans in England» — er opptaket fra en konsert Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez og Marty Morell hadde på Ronnie Scott’s i London i desember 1969. Konserten har aldri tidligere vært tilgjengelig, heller ikke hos samlere. Dette er altså kort tid etter trioens konsert på Montmartre i København, 24. november 1969. Det meste av København-konserten er tidligere gitt ut på to LP-er, «Jazzhouse» og «You’re Gonna Hear From Me», begge på labelen Milestone.
Dobbelt-albumet «Back on Indiana Avenue: The Carroll DeCamp Recordings» med Wes Montgomery er opptak med Montgomery i hans hjemby Indianapolis fra perioden etter han forlot Lionel Hmpton-bandet og før han fikk sitt store gjennombrudd med kontrakten med Orrin Keepnews label Riverside.
Ved siden av den ordinære CD-utgivelsen av disse to, gir Resonance Records ut to dobbelt-LPer i begrenset opplag til Record Store Day 13. april 2019.
De to utgivelsen omtales nærmere i pressemeldingene fra Resonance Records som er gjengitt nedenfor.
Bill Evans «Evans in England»
Resonance Records, the leading outlet for high-quality, unheard archival jazz releases, proudly announces that it will issue Evans in England, a vibrant, previously unreleased set of recordings featuring music by lyrical piano master Bill Evans with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell captured during an engagement at Ronnie Scott’s celebrated jazz club in December 1969.
The Evans album continues Resonance’s tradition of unveiling a special release on Record Store Day, the annual event promoting independent record retailers. As Variety noted in a 2018 profile of the label, “If Record Store Day had a mascot label, it would be Resonance Records, a small, L.A.-based jazz independent that’s become known even outside the genre for producing high-end archival releases tailored especially with the RSD market in mind.”
Evans in England, which features 18 electrifying performances by Evans’ brilliant trio of 1968-74, will initially be issued on April 13 — Record Store Day 2019 — as a limited edition 180-gram two-LP set, mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood and pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI); the package will be available only at participating independent record outlets. Two-CD and digital configurations of the set will be available April 19.
The album will include extensive liner notes including essays by producer and Resonance co-president Zev Feldman and jazz writer Marc Meyers; interviews with Gomez, Morell, and filmmaker Leon Terjanian; and rare photos by Chuck Stewart, Jean-Pierre Leloir, and Jan Persson.
Evans in England succeeds a pair of widely acclaimed Evans releases from Los Angeles-based independent Resonance that featured the pianist’s short-lived 1968 trio with Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette: 2016’s collection of lost studio sides Some Other Time and 2017’s set of Dutch radio recordings Another Time. The latter release was named one of the year’s top historical releases by DownBeat, JazzTimes, the U.K.’s Jazzwise, and the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.
In 2012, the label released its first album devoted to unissued music by the pianist, Bill Evans Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, a set of two never-before-heard 1968 concerts from the Greenwich Village club featuring the trio with Gomez and Morell recorded by Resonance founder and co-president George Klabin when he was just 18 years old.
Producer Feldman says, “It’s very exciting for Resonance to be collaborating on our fourth project together with the Evans Estate. These are really extraordinary recordings that represent Bill at his very, very best, and document the great art and chemistry that existed between these three gentlemen — Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell — captured just a year into what would go on to become Bill’s longest-lasting trio.”
As has been the case with some of Resonance’s other collections of rare and unheard jazz, the music on Evans in England arrived at the label’s doorstep via a bolt out of the blue: an unexpected email to Feldman from a man who said he was in possession of some previously unissued Evans recordings.
The gentleman in question was Leon Terjanian, a friend and devoted fan of Evans who had filmed the pianist for his documentary feature Turn Out the Stars, which premiered at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1981.
Through the late Francis Paudras, the famed biographer of jazz piano titan Bud Powell, Terjanian had made the acquaintance of a French collector who chooses to identify himself only as “Jo.” A similarly ardent admirer of Evans’ playing, Jo had tracked the keyboardist across Europe and even captured his trio’s sets at Ronnie Scott’s.
Evans discovered Jo’s surreptitious recording activities (which employed a small portable machine), but the musician grew comfortable with his presence, and he allowed his dedicated fan to tape his performances.
In July 2016, Terjanian received a phone call from 84-year-old Jo, who said he wanted to see his Evans recordings issued to the public before his death. That communication prompted contact with Feldman at Resonance. Arrangements were made with the Evans Estate for a legitimately licensed release of the material, with tracks selected by co-presidents George Klabin and Zev Feldman.
Marked by the already empathetic interplay of Evans, Gomez, and Morell, who would perform together for nearly seven years, Evans in England is an exceptional recital that encompasses energetic renderings of such timeless compositions as “Waltz for Debby,” “Turn Out the Stars,” “Very Early,” and “Re: Person I Knew”; extroverted readings of Miles Davis’ “So What” (which Evans originated with the trumpeter sextet on the 1959 classic Kind of Blue) and Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight”; and Evans’ earliest recordings of “Sugar Plum” and “The Two Lonely People.”
Feldman says, “Bill Evans is an artist who continues to inspire us, all these decades later. I still hear new things in his music upon each new listen, and to find an unearthed set of concert recordings such as these is a cause for widespread joy and jubilation to break out among Evans fans and jazz fans everywhere.”
Looking back on the experience of playing with Bill Evans, Gomez says, “He wanted us — me — from the very beginning to just go out there and play and make music, and as long as there’s a lot of integrating and honesty and devotion to what we’re doing, he was fine. He never put any parameters, or kiboshed anything. So it was an invitation from Bill to try stuff and be creative, and I certainly took the bait.”
Morell adds, “It was challenging, inspiring, and just kind of brought the best out of me.”
Track listing for Evans in England:
DISC ONE:
- Our Love Is Here to Stay (4:44)
- Sugar Plum (9:44)
- Stella By Starlight (6:23)
- My Foolish Heart (4:41)
- Waltz for Debby (7:59)
- ‘Round Midnight (6:37)
- The Two Lonely People (8:07)
- Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) (7:20)
DISC TWO:
- Elsa (7:16)
- What Are You Doing for The Rest of Your Life? (5:50)
- Turn Out the Stars (5:20)
- Re: Person I Knew (8:51)
- Goodbye (2:39)
- Come Rain or Come Shine (5:11)
- Very Early (5:03)
- So What (9:35)
- Midnight Mood (5:07)
- Polka Dots and Moonbeams (4:15)
Wes Montgomery «Back on Indiana Avenue: The Carroll DeCamp Recordings»
Resonance Records, the leading outlet for high-quality, previously unissued archival jazz releases, delves deeper into the early, unheard work of the innovative and influential guitarist Wes Montgomery with its April 13 (LP) and April 19 (CD) release, Back on Indiana Avenue: The Carroll DeCamp Recordings.
Maintaining its tradition of support for independent retailers, the label will initially issue the set — its sixth devoted to unreleased official Montgomery performances — as an exclusive limited edition 180-gram two-LP set on Record Store Day, the annual independent record store event. The vinyl edition is mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood and pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). Deluxe two-CD and digital configurations will be available April 19.
All iterations of the collection will include essays by jazz scholar Lewis Porter and Resonance co-president and producer Zev Feldman; plus interviews with master jazz guitarists George Benson and John Scofield; saxophonist, educator, and publisher Jamey Aebersold; and guitarist Royce Campbell, nephew of Carroll DeCamp, the late Indiana musician and arranger who captured the revelatory music heard on the new album.
Resonance’s most recent releases devoted to Montgomery have garnered widespread acclaim. Both 2018’s Wes Montgomery in Paris, a set of 1965 concert recordings from France’s Office of French Radio and Television archives, and 2017’s Smokin’ in Seattle, drawn from 1966 radio dates by the guitarist with pianist Wynton Kelly’s combo, were named among the top archival releases of the year by DownBeat, JazzTimes, and NPR Music’s Jazz Critics Poll.
Like Echoes of Indiana Avenue (2012), In the Beginning (2015), and the live One Night in Indy (2016), Back on Indiana Avenue surveys the music Montgomery made in his hometown during the years before he rocketed to fame after signing with Riverside Records in 1959.
Feldman – known in the industry as “the Jazz Detective” for his ability to ferret out previously unheard music — says, “In many ways, this is another case of Resonance solving a mystery. When we released Echoes of Indiana Avenue, we didn’t know the story of where the tapes had come from, but now with Back on Indiana Avenue we know they came from the great composer/pianist Carroll DeCamp. This release is another ‘holy grail’ find for Wes Montgomery fans.”
In his essay, historian Porter says the provenance of the material on that first Resonance collection became evident after he struck up a friendship with DeCamp, a noted arranger and musician who had been based in Indianapolis for many years. At Porter’s suggestion, DeCamp’s protégé Brook Reindollar contacted Feldman about this precious store of buried recordings — some cut by Montgomery in a studio, some captured informally in “live” settings by DeCamp.
“Eventually,” Porter writes, “with the help of our mutual friend Jamey Aebersold, we tracked down Carroll’s cache of unissued Wes Montgomery recordings — almost three hours worth! You’ve heard some on Echoes of Indiana Avenue, but we did not know that those tapes came from DeCamp’s collection. This album rectifies that situation by giving Carroll full credit. Even better, it gives you and the world two more excellent hours of never-heard Wes!”
On the DeCamp recordings, Montgomery is heard in full flight in a variety of settings — piano quartets, organ trios, sextets, and drummer-less Nat “King” Cole-style trios. Though DeCamp made no notes on the personnel, dedicated research and listening by Porter and the late musician and educator David Baker suggests that the players included such close associates as Montgomery’s brother Buddy, the guitarist’s longtime organist Melvin Rhyne, pianist John Bunch, and even the legendary Indianapolis-born pianist Carl Perkins just to name a few.
The 22 selections on Back on Indiana Avenue include embryonic versions of several of the numbers Montgomery would record at his early sessions for Riverside, including “Round Midnight,” “Jingles,” “Whisper Not,” “The End of a Love Affair,” “Ecaroh,” “West Coast Blues,” “Four On Six,” “Mister Walker,” “Tune-Up,” and “Sandu.”
Feldman says, “These are very exciting recordings that Resonance is honored to present in conjunction with the Montgomery Estate. To be able to contribute to a large part of the legacy of such an iconic artist as Wes — with even more newly-discovered, great music — is very special. Unearthing not just run of the mill recordings, but some really great material from one of the guitar’s most distinctive voices, is a momentous event. Stuff like this just doesn’t pop up every day.”
Some 60 years after the music on Back on Indiana Avenue was recorded, Wes Montgomery still inspires awe in the distinguished guitarists who followed him.
As John Scofield notes in his interview, “He was the main man back then in the ’60s, so everybody knew about him. If you were a kid and wanted to learn about jazz guitar, he was at the top of the list.”
Recalling the moment in 1961 that he heard Montgomery for the first time, playing “While We’re Young” on the radio of his 1952 Dodge, his great disciple George Benson recalls, “I had to pull over to the side because I’d never heard this great a tone in all my life.”
Photo Wes Montgomery by Duncan Schiedt (Duncan P. Schiedt Photograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
Track listing for Back on Indiana Avenue:
DISC ONE:
- Four On Six (4:45)
- Mr. Walker (3:45)
- ‘Round Midnight (7:12)
- So What (4:56)
- The End of A Love Affair (4:25)
- Tune Up (4:34)
- West Coast Blues (3:14)
- Jingles (8:19)
- It’s You Or No One (4:29)
- Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You (5:56)
- Ecaroh (3:49)
- Sandu (4:26)
- Whisper Not (6:45)
DISC TWO:
- Stompin’ at the Savoy (7:26)
- It’s You or No One (Take 2) (9:21)
- Opus De Funk (6:52)
- Summertime (9:38)
- Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (4:51)
- Easy Living (5:49)
- Four (5:36)
- I’ll Remember April (5:23)
- The Song Is You (8:48)
