New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Concord
Music Group is pleased to announce the reissue of The Complete Fantasy Recordings of Bill Evans. Set for a July 17, 2015 street date, the nine-CD box set celebrates one of the most influential jazz pianists in history with 98 studio and live performances: Evans' complete body of work for the Fantasy label during the seven-year period closely preceding his untimely death in 1980. As a special bonus, a fascinating 1978 interview with Evans at the piano is included, conducted by Marian McPartland for her
National Public
Radio show. Completing the box is a 62-page illustrated booklet with an essay by music critic and biographer Gene Lees and detailed notes on each of the 11 sessions by longtime Evans manager and producer Helen Keane. Previously out of print, the box set will return to store shelves in new, sleek and compact 5" x 5" packaging.
In these solo, duo, trio and quintet performances with the likes of Tony Bennett, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Gomez, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Konitz and Marty Morell, Bill Evans is revealed as a commanding artist at the peak of his powers. The Complete Fantasy Recordings includes such albums as Evans' GRAMMY-nominated label debut, The Tokyo Concert, his celebrated first duet album with Tony Bennett, The Tony
Bennett / Bill Evans Album and Evans' only solo recording for Fantasy, the GRAMMY-nominated Alone (Again).
In his liner notes, Gene Lees writes of Evans, "I remember my amazement not so much at the brilliance of the playing - itself cause enough for wonder - as at the emotional content of the music … His playing spoke to me in an intensely personal way. And as the years have gone by, I have discovered that he had the same effect on many people." Indeed, in the 35 years since his passing, Bill Evans' legacy and influence continues to grow.
The Complete Fantasy Recordings joins several recent and forthcoming releases celebrating the career of Bill Evans. Aside from a handful of reissued albums on vinyl, fans can also look forward to CD box set reissue The Complete Riverside Recordings this fall, while highly acclaimed deluxe LP box sets The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 and The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings hit store shelves this past winter and spring, respectively.
