Gil Evans

[Byas'd Opinion]

Born 100 years ago today, on May 13 1912 - hard to believe he was born in the same year as Teddy Wilson!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

if he had done only this .......

[Serial_Apologist]

if he had done only this .......

Or even this clip of Blues for Pablo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU1drxfdYM

My father was rushed to hospital suffering from a severe hiatus hernia attack while we were staylng at a hotel just outside Middlesburgh. Three hours later they brought him back, clearly in no way recovered, and dumped him on the bed. The telly just happened to be on - it must have been some programme or other on Gil Evans, or Gil's collaborations with Miles, because this clip suddenly came up - and the moment those opening strains rang forth my dad suddenly sat bolt upright, exclaiming, "My God! That's absolutely wonderful!". He was cured, quite simply the music had cured him, and I was forever grateful to Mr Evans for that. I bought him the album for his next birthday.

[Ian Thumwood]

When I was getting into jazz as a teenager Gil Evans was my absolute hero and someone I felt could do no wrong. It is interesting to consider the opening gambit of this thread and to recognise the generation of musicians to whom he belonged. What is seldom mentioned is that he had a career prior to joining Claude Thornhill's revolutionary big band which, despite the flirtation with Be-bop, was still very much a dance orchestra ableit one where the level of musical understanding went well beyond that of contemporaries such as Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey. Prior to that, I believe that he had largely worked with Skinnay Ennis' big band of which you can see a clip below. (Wondered if that was Evans at the piano - difficult to see by the camera shots??) The "better" tracks are towards the end. Listening to this band, they seem tight and there is some noce writing in parts but this was very much a dance band that had nothing to do with jazz. (Some of the comments made by the leader are also racist - you have been warned.)




I've always found it hard to reconcile this type of music with the kind of jazz Gil Evans went on to produce. I've read that he was originally switched on to jazz by red Nicholls but became "the world's biggest fan " of Louis Armstrong. Later I think he became impressed with Fletcher Henderson. Despite this, his early career was spent in largely non-jazz aggregations. Strange to consider that Gil Evans came from writing for such as commercial aggregation and then plunged straight into bebop before become one of the principle architects of "Cool Jazz." By the late 60's he was experimenting with electronic instruments and had become infatiated with Rock. Prior to his death he was working with Sting and even in the second decade of this century his 1980's Monday Night Orchestra is cited by Medeski, Martin and Wood as being a huge influence on their approach to jazz. By this time, of course, there was very little arranging going on - simply a big band that liked to jam.

Great story, btw, SA.

[Old Grumpy]

Or even this clip of Blues for Pablo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU1drxfdYM

My father was rushed to hospital suffering from a severe hiatus hernia attack while we were staylng at a hotel just outside Middlesburgh. Three hours later they brought him back, clearly in no way recovered, and dumped him on the bed. The telly just happened to be on - it must have been some programme or other on Gil Evans, or Gil's collaborations with Miles, because this clip suddenly came up - and the moment those opening strains rang forth my dad suddenly sat bolt upright, exclaiming, "My God! That's absolutely wonderful!". He was cured, quite simply the music had cured him, and I was forever grateful to Mr Evans for that. I bought him the album for his next birthday.

Great post S-A. apart [+PEDANT] from the spelling of Middlesborough - how else could the football team be known locally as 'Boro! [/PEDANT]

OG

[Serial_Apologist]

Great post S-A. apart [+PEDANT] from the spelling of Middlesborough - how else could the football team be known locally as 'Boro! [/PEDANT]

OG

Oops!

My mum, who was born there, must be rolling in her grave!

[Ian Thumwood]

Been listening to JRR this morning whilst working at home and was curious to hear the "Prince of Darkness" track. I have the double-LP at home and it used to be a record that I must have played to death at the time. There was a blues called "John's Memory" which I loved as well as a version of "Parabola" which really cooked. Hearing this music again, it seems even more difficult to reconcile this band with Gil's earlier work. I really get the impression that by the 1980's he was fed up with writing - perhaps evidenced too with the Jimi Hendrix LP where he was responsible for only 2 of the arrangements. (Tom Malone's "Angel" is bar far the best track on the whole album even if "Castles made of sand " runs it close.)

Even towards the end, Gil still had a recognisable musical voice when it did decide to get out the manuscript and there a fragments of his scores on albums such as Michel Portal's "My way" where a Portal original mutates into an unrecorded Gil Evans' score with such effect that you can immediately tell than another writer has a hand in the composition. That said, I don't think "Prince of Darkness" was much cop - especially if contrasted with the masterul original recording. Seemed like the whole band were reading from the "Real Book."

[Tenor Freak]

Check this one out...one of the best of these two...

[Ian Thumwood]

Bruce

Really disappointed with the above Miles / Gil track and not surprised that it remained buried in the vaults for so long. It reminded me a bit of the Gil Evans album "Blues in orbit" which was pretty dreadful and poorly recorded to boot. I was loaned this album by a friend and was hugely disappointed in this record which sounds like a free-for-all on many of he tracks.Where the tracks were recorded on other discs ("Thoroughbred" and "General Assembly") these versions suffer in comparison. Check out "Svengali" where he re-recorded much of this material and hear the difference. For my money,"Blues in orbit" is a really bad album by someone who was , up to the point, very consistent.

[cloughie]

Bruce

Really disappointed with the above Miles / Gil track and not surprised that it remained buried in the vaults for so long. It reminded me a bit of the Gil Evans album "Blues in orbit" which was pretty dreadful and poorly recorded to boot. I was loaned this album by a friend and was hugely disappointed in this record which sounds like a free-for-all on many of he tracks.Where the tracks were recorded on other discs ("Thoroughbred" and "General Assembly") these versions suffer in comparison. Check out "Svengali" where he re-recorded much of this material and hear the difference. For my money,"Blues in orbit" is a really bad album by someone who was , up to the point, very consistent.

I know this will be sneered at by the purists, but I enjoyed the R2 BBCBB tribute to Gil with Randy Brecker as soloist.