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Analogue Productions has produced a sparking 2023 re-mastered repress of the 1968 concert, Bill Evans At The Montreux Jazz Festival. Released in 1968 on Verve Records, the album won the Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual Or Group. it seems appropriate that the work of Evans, a trailblazing jazz pioneer, gets a dual-pronged upgrade. Evans connected to various different groups, not solely jazz fans. At the 1968 Montreux Jazz Festival, Bill cast a giant shadow, With Eddie Gomez (double bass) and Jack Dejohnette, the trio was looking to have an impact on the festival. After concert musical co-promoter Geo Voumand introduces the trio (in French), they hit an immediate swing groove on “One For Helen”. Evans masterful technique of executing different tempos with each hand bristles with syncopated resonance. Gomez and DeJohnette are in lockstep. The double bassist shines on an extended solo as Evans fills in seamlessly. DeJohnette’s understated drum work is compelling. Evans returns to handle the upbeat verse. These are concise arrangements. 

As others have noted, this album occupies a unique place in the Bill Evans discography. It's the only album to document drummer Jack deJohnette's too-short stay in the trio. The trio's performance on this album won them the 1969 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

By the time this set was recorded, live in Montreux on June 15, 1968, Eddie Gomez and Evans had been playing together for two years. Gomez provided a different brand of virtuosity to that offered by Scott LaFaro in Evans's classic trio of five years earlier but he was clearly the best bass player Evans had worked with since LaFaro's tragic death. The groove between the two was deep and comfortable, so comfortable that in this set, Evans did something he hadn't done before, at least on a recording: he showcased Gomez for an entire piece, the almost 7-minute-long "Embraceable You."

As the liner notes by Gene Lees reveal, Evan's performance at the renowned jazz festival in the nightclub of the Montreux Casino, one of the most fashionable resorts in Switzerland, was one of his best. He and Gomez played with more exuberance, more happiness and more drive. Evans' brooding, introspective musical side has been represented well on records before; the bright side has been too-little heard, but it's here in this album.

At the end of each number the audience exploded in applause so stormy and extended that it had to be heavily edited for the album. For the 45 RPM 2LP edition of this sparkling Bill Evans piano performance, we turned to mastering engineer Matthew Lutthans, who cut the sides at The Mastering Lab by Acoustic Sounds.

For this edition only the best vinyl pressing would do — a 180-gram super-silent luxurious-sounding platter from Quality Record Pressings, makers of the world's finest-sounding LPs. And Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on cardboard gatefold jacket with vibrantly reproduced original artwork. The dead-quiet double-LP, with the music spread over four sides of vinyl, reduces distortion and high frequency loss as the wider-spaced grooves let your stereo cartridge track more accurately.

First-rate and top-notch, this album will make a superb addition to your record collection.

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Label: Analogue Productions, Verve Records, Universal Music Special Markets
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Repress, Stereo, 180g
Country: US
Reissued: 2021 / Original Release: 1968
Genre: Jazz
Style: Post Bop, Modal
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File under: Audiophile Jazz