Saturday 18 April 2009

I hear a rhapsody

Undercurrent (1963) Bill Evans & Jim Hall

Not bad for the first Bill Evans record I picked up.
Toni Frissell's cover image of, suitably enough, a woman underwater floating above the reads. The gentle current passes through.

The album, though bare in essentials - Jim on guitar / Bill on piano, contains a rare depth and an undeniable magic and beauty.

I tend to zone to another place when I play it, songs tend to loose their distinction, they join and form this endless flow, rather like Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. For some reason I did not go to great lengths to study the track listing, I didn't need to. The titles are nonetheless perfectly apt to each song, and like the woman's dress on the record sleeve they mirror, and form a perfect bond with the music.

Undercurrent, though the first to found a growing Bill Evans Collection, remains the best.

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