''Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival'' is a 1968 album by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

, recorded live at that year's

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. The trio's performance on this album won them the 1969 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

Reception

Writing for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, music critic Rovi Staff wrote the album "marks the beginning of stylistic changes for the legendary pianist. Only one year earlier, his At Town Hall release found his approach generally more introspective and brooding. In contrast, this set is more lively, playful, and experimental... He experiments more with harmonic dissonance and striking rhythmical contrasts, making this his most extroverted playing since his freshman release, New Jazz Conceptions."

Track listing

#"Spoken Introduction" – 0:57 #"One for Helen" (

) – 4:22 #"

A Sleepin' Bee "A Sleepin' Bee" is a popular song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote. It was introduced in the musical '' House of Flowers'' (1954) and performed by Diahann Carroll. While ''House of Flowers'' was a flop, "A Sleepin' ...

" (

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

) – 6:05 #"Mother of Earl" (

Earl Zindars Earl Zindars (September 25, 1927 – August 15, 2005) was an American composer of jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with i ...

) – 5:14 #" Nardis" (

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

) – 8:23 #"Quiet Now" (

Denny Zeitlin Denny Zeitlin (born April 10, 1938) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Since 1963, he has recorded more than 100 compositions and was a first-place winner in the ...

) – 6:26 #"

I Loves You, Porgy "I Loves You, Porgy" is a duet from the 1935 opera ''Porgy and Bess'' with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was performed in the opera's premiere in 1935 and on Broadway the same year by Anne Brown and Todd Duncan. They reco ...

" (

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

, DuBose Heyward) – 6:00 #"

The Touch of Your Lips The Touch of Your Lips" is a romantic ballad written by Ray Noble in 1936. The original version of the song, which has become a standard, was by Al Bowlly accompanied by Ray Noble and His Orchestra. Three versions of the song reached the charts ...

" (

Ray Noble Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United ...

) – 4:45 #"

Embraceable You "Embraceable You" is a jazz standard song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was written in 1928 for an unpublished operetta named ''East Is West''. It was published in 1930 and included in that year's Broadway m ...

" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 6:45 #"

Some Day My Prince Will Come "Someday My Prince Will Come" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. It was written by Larry Morey (lyrics) & Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti (Snow White's voice in the mo ...

" ( Frank Churchill,

Larry Morey Lawrence L. Morey (March 26, 1905 – May 8, 1971) was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He co-wrote some of the most successful songs in Disney films of the 1930s and 1940s, including "Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Whis ...

) – 6:08 #"Walkin' Up" (Evans) – 3:34

Personnel

* Bill Evans -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Eddie Gómez Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977. Biography Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Legacy

Nardis in Track 5 was sampled by

MF DOOM Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

in "Raid" from his album, ''

Madvillainy ''Madvillainy'' is the only studio album by American hip hop duo Madvillain, consisting of rapper MF Doom and producer Madlib. It was released on March 23, 2004, on Stones Throw Records. The album was recorded between 2002 and 2004. Madlib cr ...

''.

Discography

References

External links

Jazz Discography Bill Evans Catalog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Evans At The Montreux Jazz Festival Bill Evans live albums Albums recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1968 live albums Verve Records live albums Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album