Explorations

by Bill Evans

Product Description:

Bill Evans Trio: Bill Evans (piano); Scott LaFaro (bass); Paul Motian (drums).

Recorded at Bell Sound Studios, New York, New York on February 2, 1961. Originally released on Riverside (9351). Includes liner notes by Orrin Keepnews.

Digitally remastered by David Luke (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).

EXPLORATIONS, Bill Evans' fourth solo album, is aptly named. Throughout, Evans displays the high-minded lyrical facility, long flowing phrases and rich sound that made him so popular with both fans and other musicians during the 1950s and '60s. The intrepid nature of his improvisations and the edgy interactivity of his trio echo the album's title in tracks like the expansive "Elsa," "Israel," and the Miles Davis composition "Nardis."

Evans is also a master of the ballad, and he shapes tracks such as "Haunted Heart" and the shimmering, evocative "Elsa" into exercises of grace and sensitivity. There is a fair share of swing here too, with the up-tempo "Sweet and Lovely" and "Beautiful Love." Evan's imaginative, meticulous stylings flow through every piece, and it is difficult to resist the balance of intelligence, tenderness, groove and mood that EXPLORATIONS achieves.