DIVERSE SET ENCOMPASSES BALLADS, WALTZES, HARD-SWINGING BOP
1/4" / 15 IPS Dolby A analog copy to analog console to lathe
Bill Evans catapulted to the top of the jazz world in June 1961 after reeling off three straight masterpiece sessions at New York's Village Vanguard with his trio. Yet the emotional highs came to a screeching halt shortly thereafter when bassist Scott LaFaro died in a car accident. Devastated, Evans refrained from playing for nearly a year. If not for an inspirational collaboration of tremendous creative outpouring, one wonders what fate may have befallen Evans. Undercurrent, the outcome of two studio sessions with guitarist Jim Hall, is that project.
Tracklist:
A1 My Funny Valentine
A2 I Hear A Rhapsody
A3 Dream Gypsy
B1 Romain
B2 Skating In Central Park
B3 Darn That Dream
While Evans managed to sit down for a few one-off takes between LaFaro's passing and these April-May 1962 dates, he largely remained on hiatus and abstained from recording. Whether it owes to the intimate pairing, he and Hall's brotherly chemistry, or the exquisite selection of program material, the results consistently come across as the equivalent of a private meditation - such is the level of introspective depth and quietly shaded interplay throughout. For Evans, the duet clearly functions as therapy, a healing episode in which his partner patiently lays back, shadowing moves and suggesting others, neither musician interested in the spotlight but each striving for (and achieving) transcendent beauty.
In tackling standards such as Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine" and the Broadway classic "Darn That Dream," as well as the Hall original "Romain," the pair traverses complex harmonies with the astute elegance of a figure skater. At times, Evans and Hall go for broke on a hard-swinging romps, yet it's their implied melancholy and drifting, softly struck melodic refrains on waltzes and ballads that bestows Undercurrent with a nuanced romanticism and whispered atmosphere befitting the record's title.
Indeed, even the album's cover - an iconic photograph by Toni Frissell - exhibits the surreal, almost-hallucinogenic properties of the fare contained within.
Recording information:
Title: Undercurrent
Artist: Bill Evans, Jim Hall
Genre: Jazz
Media: 1x 180g LP Vinyl Stereo 33rpm, Limited, Numbered, Remastered, . Mastered from 1/4", 15ips Dolby A Original Analog Master Tapes to analog console to lathe. Mastered by Krieg Wunderlich @ Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on The Gain 2 Ultra Analog System. Specially Plated & Pressed on 180g High-Definition Vinyl in the USA. Silver Label.
Label: MoFi - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Cat#: MOFI-1-031
Released: 2023 in US
Original release: 1962 by Blue Note Records UAJS 15003
EAN: 0821797100311
Discogs rel.#: 27751206
