I remembered watching this concert when it aired, to some degree knowing the music was partially over my head, on another level, but I knew they were burnin on that level. Bill Evans was gone not long after, but he died burnin that music in the moment!
The very first recording of Nardis, understated, cool and below the radar. This is a spark that grows into a raging fire.......Bill never stopped evolving....
One thing my father always says to me is that "No matter what happens in your life, if you keep music close to yiu it can help get you through. Music is the best friend you would ever need and it can do a lot for you". I love every recording of Nardis but this one stands above the others, it's as if we are being talked to through the performance and what we are being told is everything within the mind of Bill Evans through his music.
been having nardis for quite some long now, and this is my first encounter with this one version; feels just like someone's drugged nardis, making it less comfortable -- more aggressive, as you said --, with an insatiable request for rest. 13:05 the way each of these chords linger their existence to the end of the song, that's someone asking for what is known to be coming not
Pat: Express your own opinion on this, don't lean on Scofield. I think Joe's solo is unvaried and without nuances and consequently too long. And Joe is much too hard on his sticks also.
What a great bassist also lucky to have played with Bill and then go on to work with Eliane Elias and mary her. 40 years with Bill, Eliane and many other side gigs. That’s a career for a bassist.
Yeah, and I ended mine when I got to Social Security ! Live music and jazz clubs by the dozen in L.A. went belly up and so did even bread and butter, dare I say it, weddings, barmitzvas, office party gigs, etc., all.dying to the talentless empty hands of DJs, synthesizer in studios replacing nearly everyone there, Karaoke killing bar rooms, and pre-recorded shows in Las Vegas accompanying headline acts (eliminating orchestras)..100% Correct or not, live music, at least in L.A., dropped dead one dismal day.. A couple jazz clubs remain, but it ain't like it was in, say, 1970 and before...No, I wasn't great like Marc above.. But I was getting calls for most of it for about 35 yrs..and STILL had a couple day gigs in between.. Sold my Fender, sold my upright, amp, and retired...
When you listen to a musical genius as here displayed..you forget about the instrument..the piano and the music unfolds to you..may he rest in peace 🙏 gone but not forgotten.
my private time stamps 00:30 Piano solo - Improvistion, following the chord progression of the theme / I personally often have difficulties to follow the AABA Songform 04:32 Trio - Theme AABA Songform 05:05 Bass solo - great freedom in phrasing, leaving the song harmonies in favor of modal playing style, fundamental tone E 08:35 Trio - Intermezzo 09:05 Drums solo 12:38 Trio - Theme AABA Songform
Jazz great Bill Evans summed it up best when he said that “Joe is very dedicated to playing quality music, and he’s willing to make the concessions of dues toward that end. He’s a top soloist and he does the right thing at the right time.”
Marc Johnson's solo is so free and inventive. I never cease to be amazed by this guy. That said, I certainly don't miss that era in bass amplification.
@@josiasgalindo8732 the bass in most of 70's sounded like a fretless bass because (i guess) they only used a pickup near the strings and not the body and/or players got too comfortable with amps and played too soft. Ron Carter also has this kind of sound and he teaches playing softer
Yeah there was a lot going on back then. Learning Amplification of a 300 year old acoustic instrument that was never designed to be played like that; evolving prominence of bass as a solo instrument, electrification of jazz. I don’t criticize the sound. I don’t love it either but try to focus on the music. That bass player is uncommonly excellent. Clean, very expressive and unusually developed sense of improvisational composition. But the bass sound is very Ampy.
Marc Johnson is magnificent! His tone is muscular and his solo bar setting. Joe LaBarbera drum s solo borders on fusion and straight ahead. Bill is Bill He lets these guys play jazz. Bill said Miles Davis wrote this song. There some people in jazz who say Nardis was written by Bill Evans not so he says Bill at the beginning of this video.
OF COURSE bill wrote nardis !! dont matter if bill said miles wrote it !! you want proof ?? try to find ANOTHER TUNE REMOTELY ON THE LEVEL OF MASTERY WRITTEN BY MILES !!you cant ,next ,,miles recorded EVERY ONE OF HIS OTHER TUNES WHY DIDNT MILES HIMSELF RECORD NARDIS ?? remember miles had the habit of trying to appropriate tunes written by others ,,BILL IM SURE MADE SOME KIND OF TRANSACTIONAL DEAL WITH MILES FOR PUBLISHING AND BILL BEING THE TRUE HONORABLE GENTLEMAN THAT HE IS DECIDED TO HONOR THAT DFEAL EVEN AFTER MILES PASSED ,miles was a wonderful brilliant genius musician bandleader conceptional visionary and great jazz trumpet player but he werent no great JAZZ COMPOSER !!he could NEVER HAVE WRITTEN NARDIS !!nardis is a complex very subtle extremely innovative piece ,its obviously A PIANO PLAYERS TUNE !!
I never get the concern about speeding up as long as band is together. Loads of top players have done it - or slowed down. It"s real jazz not metronome practice.
Can't believe anyone would complain about that. This is live jazz, right? At this point, he had probably been playing the song for 20+ years. He's going to play it whatever way he feels like playing it...
@@jodi183 This is not Nardis! ... I liked BE before Miles, but not after ... two different people, two different artists ... This is a good example of a top-notch artist losing a battle against self-indulgence ... and how improvisation can destroy the music.
100 % You are right. But I’ve tended towards being a pita about steadier time I know a bassist who quit Bill because of speeding up I know a drummer who told me the speeding up was understood with Bill. He loved working with Bill. Eg as in classical music. Accelerando So I can see it from both pov. I question myself for being perhaps hard headed about more steady intense time Steady Intensity is its own thing. And I’m NOT talking about metronome practice or playing that way either. But hearing Marc and Joe make this work. Gives me pause
Magnificent bass solo here. So moving, passionate and inspiring. You can see Bill really digging it. Unfortunately I don’t know the musical theory to articulate better but I want to know.
It's the space that Bill Evans leaves him. He hasn't had that kind of harmonic trust since Scott LaFaro made that iconic recording with Evans all those years ago. Even with Eddie Gomez, Evans felt the need to offer a stab here and there. LaBarbera is likely what Evans hoped LaFaro would have been like in the 70s.
If, IF you are NOT a musician, forget it. You do not need theory.. Enjoy music as a listener. That's who it's really made for.. Yes, musicians too, listen. They might BE citing things via their trained/developed ear and composition-ally. But that's them, not you.. and that is fine,..wherever it may take you...💥
Legend has it that Bill wrote Nardis and Miles basically took credit, which is a nice way of saying he stole it, but here you have Bill himself say Miles wrote it.
You're on to it. From the beginning with Scottie and culminating in this final trio, Bill's music is all about the aversion to closure.Tension and forward mov't in every bar, Never a folksy triad or "restful" tonic. Always tension and forward movement, and no one makes the piano sing from the core of his being like Bill. Notice the equal weight of the left hand in the rich and dense chord clusters along with dynamic contouring. Can't listen to anyone else after Bill. He was sui generis.
@@maggiessong what's amazing when he played with Miles Davis many musicians thought that he couldn't swing enough !... I don't know what the hell they were listening to..
@@pgroove163 they were just jealous. No jazz musician had the mind of BE, all repetitive folks. BE just played what he had in his mind and heart, not memorized
Marc Johnson came closest to Scottie LaFaro in his rapport with Bill's concept, and Joe LaBarbera was a far better bet than Motian in Bill's late period, when the early Romantic "impressionism" has been replaced by late Romantic "expressionism." Thunderous, anticipatory, suspenseful, explosive and dark--like Bill's Russian heritage and the composers he listened to--Stravinsky and Shostakovich replacing Debussy and Ravel. Danger and beauty at every instant, the only jazz artist to say it all.
I disagree with some of the comments about Joe- This trio may be the best, a lot having to do with Bill being at the heights of his power and Joe providing, along with Marc...fire
There's just a quality about this kind of music that I can't quite put into words, time and time again it inspires me to continue. It has something to do with a magnificent sense of the present, but simultaneously, the future as well as a clarity, and a sense of focus, and immediacy. My point is, this is beautiful, and I aspire to have the acuity, and clarity that Evans demonstrates through and through in his music.
very well said, Kadee McFarlane. I'm not a musician - I should've been one - even though I believe I get you. sometimes I think jazz has this peculiarity to push its worshipers to a huge level of astonishment, something immense, overwhelming, some unspeakable sense of magnificence and timelessness as if you were seen the universe from the edge of this mesmerizing abyss of beauty. and even if you don't jump off, you'll feel embraced by and immersed in its wonder. this I say without ever having had a single experience with any kind of drugs in my entire life (not even weed, that's kinda embarrassing...). jazz is my drug. Bill and Keith my super special stuff ;) I absolutely love this sh*t. I wish you the best pursuing your goals.
Just responding to a comment about M. Evans' hands because I'm in medical the hands were swallen from his liver problems he had because of Hepatite... At this time Evans was long done with heroin, he was steadily on methadone for years. His main problem at the end was coke and OH... But hey everyone has their problems... Importance is that he was in my mind and remains a musical genious not only by his composing but also his playing and what he conveyed by his music.
@@vitalgreenspace he used samples from nardis and he probably looked where the samples are from, it’s pretty interesting to see what samples are used in rap song, surprisingly a lot of jazz
11:54 - Listen to Joe's solo starting at around this point. The hand independence is amazing. If you shift your focus to just one hand, and then the other, it almost sounds like two separate people are playing, with nearly a melody line emerging from the left hand. I don't know a lot about drums, but I think that's just remarkable.
At least the drummer did not abandon the bass player. I notice the bassists never abandon the pianist. Being an ex jazz bassist, I never got why when the bassist solo'd everyone else stopped playing. When I just stopped during their solo's I soon cured that habit.
According to the Evans bio "In Your Own Sweet Way" by Gene Lees, Evans was obsessed at this time with the classical piece, "Variations On A Theme By Paganini", hence the continuous variations in the solo intro.
In this period Bill Evans had acquired some artificiality and mannerism in his playing. In the 60’s and early 70’s his playing was way more authentic and laconic.
