Bill Evans Mosaic Final Village Vanguard sessions

[ASNL77]

I have just spent 20 minutes looking through the 39 pages the search function has come up with but I haven't found any thread on this one.

Could we discuss the music, the quality of the recording and whatever you have got to say about this set. I have the chance to buy it. What would be a reasonable price? Am I right to say there is no CD version of this set? Thanks

[J.A.W.]

I have a Warner Bros. 6CD-set Turn Out the Stars - The Final Village Vanguard Recordings, June 1980. I don't have any details of the Mosaic set, but I'm guessing both sets have the same material. The CD-set was mastered by Malcolm Addey.

Edited August 22, 2006 by J.A.W.

[Dmitry]

I have just spent 20 minutes looking through the 39 pages the search function has come up with but I haven't found any thread on this one.

It sucks [a lot] that search does not permit searching for a phrase, doesn't it?

[king ubu]

I have that Atlantic box, too.

Here's the Mosaic discography (don't have the Atlantic box here to compare):

The Final Village Vanguard Sessions-June 1980 (LP Only #171)

Discography

Bill Evans (p), Marc Johnson (b), Joe LaBarbera (d).

June 4, 5,6, & 8, 1980 Village Vanguard, New York City

All performances are by the trio, unless otherwise noted.

June 4-set one

Re: Person I Knew rejected

Polka Dots And Moonbeams -

The Two Lonely People -

Theme From M*A*S*H -

Turn Out The Stars -

I Do It For Your Love -

June 4-set two

Tiffany unissued

Your Story (omit d) -

Bill's Hit Tune Record One

Laurie unissued

Emily -

Quiet Now -

Nardis Record One

June 4-set three

Tiffany unissued

Knit For Mary F. -

Yet Ne'er Broken -

If You Could See Me Now Record One

Your Story (solo)/Like Someone In Love unissued

My Foolish Heart -

Very Early -

Five -

June 5-set one

Re: Person I Knew unissued

Polka Dots And Moonbeams -

The Two Lonely People Record One

Theme From M*A*S*H unissued

Laurie Record One

Bill's Hit Tune unissued

I Do It For Your Love -

My Romance Record Two

June 5-set two

Your Story (omit d) unissued

Tiffany Record Two

If You Could See Me Now unissued

Like Someone In Love Record Two

Letter To Evan (omit d) -

Days Of Wine And Roses -

Emily -

My Foolish Heart Record Three

Nardis -

June 5-set three

The Other Side Of Midnight (Noelle's Theme) (solo)unissued

Knit For Mary F. -

Yet Ne'er Broken Record Three

Quiet Now -

But Not For Me -

Turn Out The Stars unissued

Spring Is Here Record Four

Autumn Leaves -

June 6-set one

Your Story Record Four

Re: Person I Knew -

Polka Dots And Moonbeams -

The Two Lonely People -

Theme From M*A*S*H -

Tiffany Record Five

Turn Out The Stars -

Laurie -

My Romance -

June 6-set two

Knit For Mary F. Record Five

Midnight Mood -

Time Remembered Record Six

Days Of Wine And Roses -

Up With The Lark -

My Foolish Heart unissued

Nardis Record Six

June 6-set three

untitled tune (solo) unissued

Your Story (omit d) Record Six

Yet Ne'er Broken Record Seven

If You Could See Me Now -

Bill's Hit Tune -

Tiffany -

In Your Own Sweet Way -

I Do It For Your Love -

Five Record Eight

June 8-set one

Re: Person I Knew unissued

Polka Dots And Moonbeams Record Eight

Tiffany unissued

Bill's Hit Tune Record Eight

Turn Out The Stars -

Letter To Evan unissued

If You Could See Me Now -

Days Of Wine And Roses Record Eight

June 8-set two

Your Story unissued

But Not For Me Record Eight

Knit For Mary F. Record Nine

Like Someone In Love -

Quiet Now -

Emily -

I Do It For Love -

Nardis -

June 8-set three

untitled tune (omit d) unissued

Your Story -

Knit For Mary F. Record Ten

Like Someone In Love -

Letter To Evan -

Minha (omit d) -

Bill's Hit Tune unissued

A Sleepin' Bee Record Ten

My Foolish Heart unissued

My Romance/Five Record Ten

Original sessions produced by Helen Keane

Produced for release by Jeff Levenson & Bill Kirchner

Executive producers; Michael Cuscuna & Charlie Lourie

Original location recording and remixing: Malcolm Addey

Recording assistent: Jon Bobenko

Mastered by Master Cutting Room

Design direction: Richard Mantel

Design production: InkWell, Inc.

© (p) 1996 Warner Bros. Records, Inc., for the U. S. and WEA International Inc. for the world outside the U.S. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

© 1996 Mosaic Records, Inc. All rights reserved.

Producer's Note:

The selection process for this collection was made both easy and difficult by the fact that the musical level over the span of four nights of recording was very high -- often extraordinary. Only the first set of the first night was totally unusable, which Evans himself intimated in an interview with Ted O'Reilly in August, 1980. Otherwise, it was largely a matter of deciding one's preference in pearls.

In particular, I wanted to include multiple versions of four new and previously unrecorded Evans originals, Your Story, Tiffany, Yet Ne'er Broken and Knit For Mary F<XC>. For the sake of variety, I picked as many different themes as possible, especially favoring those which the trio played only once during the four nights. Every tune recorded during the engagement is represented here with the exception of Very Early and The Other Side Of Midnight. The version of Very Early, a much recorded item in Evans's repertoire, was just routine by the trio's standards. The solo version of The Other Side Of Midnight was not a developed performance, essentially a piano warm-up.

Of the untitled tune listed twice in the discography, Marc Johnson reports that Evans often taught him tunes during sound checks. It sounds as if this item was a work in progress that Evans was teaching his bassist. It has been copyrighted with the working title Bill's New Solo.

A focal point of the project are the four versions of Nardis, all exciting and varied within the parameters of the trio's arrangement, and all showing Evans, Johnson and LaBarbera at the peak of their individual powers. I firmly believe that these performances will be discussed and dissected by musicians, scholars and fans for years to come.

A footnote: you'll notice that there is an abrupt, applause-less cut-off at the end of the final evening's last selection. The reel of tape ran out at that very moment -- a Rod Serling-esque finale to the engagement, and to Evans's triumphant-tragic career.

Bill Kirchner

August 1996

I think the Atlantic spreads the sets out of sequence, no? Just going from memory... I guess the Mosaic has them in chronological order... don't have the tracklist of the discs, above is all I've saved.

Edited August 22, 2006 by king ubu

[Nate Dorward]

I'm sure it's just one of those deals where Mosaic does the vinyl version....?

I have the Turn out the Stars set. Supercharged (coked-up) late Evans, even the ballads tend to turn fast & loud; good stuff even if it's way too much for this listener (umpteen versions of each tune); recording quality is very good.

[J.A.W.]

I have that Atlantic box, too.

(...)

I think the Atlantic spreads the sets out of sequence, no? Just going from memory... I guess the Mosaic has them in chronological order... don't have the tracklist of the discs, above is all I've saved.

Flurin,

The CD-set is on Warner Bros., not Atlantic (see my post above).

[Nate Dorward]

Aha, that track listing suggest it's not quite the same deal as the Turn Out the Stars box--some tunes there that are definitely not on it.

[J.A.W.]

Aha, that track listing suggest it's not quite the same deal as the Turn Out the Stars box--some tunes there that are definitely not on it.

Not on the Mosaic set or the Warner Bros. CD-set?

[king ubu]

I have that Atlantic box, too.

(...)

I think the Atlantic spreads the sets out of sequence, no? Just going from memory... I guess the Mosaic has them in chronological order... don't have the tracklist of the discs, above is all I've saved.

Flurin,

The CD-set is on Warner Bros., not Atlantic (see my post above).

Sorry, my bad... I was thinking along bigger lines... TimeWarner - why don't they all merge, anyway?

[sidewinder]

I have the Mosaic LP set for this one. Sound quality is superb - tracks are as per the 'Turn Out The Stars' CD box. Price point seems to be $300 and up.

[king ubu]

Aha, that track listing suggest it's not quite the same deal as the Turn Out the Stars box--some tunes there that are definitely not on it.

Nate, those tunes where there's an "unissued" next to them are not on the Mosaic, either, as far as I understand - for the others, the "Record [no.]" is given, and a "-" means "same as preceding tune", I assume, as usual.

[king ubu]

Just edited my post above to make it a bit clearer - italics are unissued tunes, others have record # in bold now.

[Dmitry]

There are tracks on the cd box that are not on the Mosaic lp box?

[brownie]

That Mosaic box was worth every penny! One of the best releases from the Stamford folks

The sound has that unique 'you are there' quality!

[king ubu]

There are tracks on the cd box that are not on the Mosaic lp box?

Well, all the info I have is posted, someone needs to do the work now

[Matthew]

To speak of the music for a bit: What I find interesting about this final phase is Evans' use of time. I've been thinking and listening a lot about time since reading Jim's & Larry Kart's comment regarding this aspect in the Coltrane at the Half Note thread. There is a different use of time here compared to Evans' first VV sessions, especially in his playing; the common phrase for late Evans is: hurried. I don't think it's that. What I hear is Evans' has deepened his approach toward the piano, toward time, it strikes my as more sax based than trumpet based, with the use of time being much more complex. Maybe an example of what I mean is better. In Waltz For Debby, when I listen to Detour Ahead, it sounds like a Miles Davis solo, I can close my eyes, change the instrument from piano to trumpet, and Miles appears. With this last trio, his playing is, for me at least, fuller, with very different way to approach, a different fell for time in each cut. Even the role of the bass has changed here. I'm finding the later years of Evans' very interesting. Don't know if this is making any sense, probably need more time to listen and think about these areas in Evans' playing -- so ask me again in a year and I might know something of what I'm trying to say, if even then.