Bill Evans: Live at Ronnie Scott's
Resonance Records

Live at Ronnie Scott's is a significant addition to the Bill Evans catalogue for a number of reasons. As a live document of the pianist's short-lived trio with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette, it brings into sharper focus a brief yet important episode in Evans' career; it also captures the remarkable calibre of performance the trio achieved during its July 1968 residency at Scott's legendary London club. To its credit, Resonance has issued three collections of unissued material by the trio, this live set preceded by 2016's Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest, a studio date recorded five days after its Montreux appearance, and 2018's Another Time, recorded two days later by the Netherlands Radio Union in Hilversum. It's also Resonance's second live Evans album from Ronnie Scott's: 2019's Evans in England features a 1969 date at the club, this one pairing Evans and Gomez with drummer Marty Morell.

How Live at Ronnie Scott's came into being is a story unto itself. Visiting with DeJohnette and his wife Lydia at their upstate New York home, Resonance co-president Zev Feldman learned that the drummer's personal archives included recordings of the trio's four-week stint; he'd placed his recorder's mic in the piano near Gomez's bass, the result a document that on sound quality terms was naturally raw but nevertheless invaluable. However rough the recording sounds quickly recedes in importance as one's swept away by the performances; further to that, ambient sounds of clinking glasses, applause, and conversation simply add to the live feel and authenticity of the document.

Many an Evans staple—a few originals but standards mostly—surfaces in the twenty-track set-list, but hearing them performed in this context by this outfit, together for six months only, proves fascinating (during the club residency, Miles Davis stopped by to investigate and promptly convinced DeJohnette to join him, which in turn brought Morell into Evans' fold). Further, it captures how forceful a presence DeJohnette was in powering the unit and shows how magnificent a partner Gomez was to Evans. While Scott La Faro is often cited when the conversation turns to Evans' bass players, Gomez's adroit playing here is so outstanding it argues his contribution to the Evans legacy is just as critical, if in a different way.

Rich in photos and info, the forty-four-page booklet packaged with the release contains fascinating tidbits. In addition to illuminating articles by Feldman and British journalist Brian Priestley, there are interviews with Gomez and Chevy Chase (who befriended Evans in his later years and would sometimes drive him home to Riverdale after a NY gig) and a warm conversation between Chick Corea and DeJohnette, the two long-time friends and one-time bandmates with Miles. Among the memorable details that emerge in the material are Corea's tactful comment on the release's sound (“the recording quality is what it is”), words Evans shared with fellow pianist Marian McPartland about Jack's playing (“As a matter of fact, he's getting me off my musical ass”), and Evans' reply when Chase asked about his playing: “Eight hours a day, Chev.” Pianists aspiring to reach Evans' summit thus know how high they must climb.

Highlights are plentiful. DeJohnette drives the '50 show tune “Sleepin' Bee” like a man possessed and Evans and Gomez respond in kind. “Yesterdays” is delivered at a furious pace, the drummer inarguably getting Evans off his “musical ass” and not for the only time (see, for instance, “Someday My Prince Will Come,” where the two's trade-offs feature DeJohnette at his most explosive, and Evans' own “Waltz for Debby”). Most of the time, the bassist and drummer follow Evans' lead, the two so adept they're able to lock in no matter where the pianist's inclinations take him. Gomez's importance is witnessed in how authoritatively he imposes himself on “My Man's Gone Now” and “Autumn Leaves,” so much so that the performance places him alongside Evans as an equal. The pianist allocated “Embraceable You” as a showcase for the bassist, and Gomez responds with an agile, inventive display marked by daring gestures.

January 2021