2019 collection. In celebration of it's 10-year anniversary, Resonance is launching a series of compilations culled from it's vast catalog highlighting both living artists as well as jazz greats of the past. In celebration of it's 10-year anniversary, Resonance is launching a series of compilations culled from it's vast catalog highlighting both living artists as well as jazz greats of the past. Smile With Your Heart focuses on the jazz icon Bill Evans and includes material from his four album releases on Resonance Records.

Bill Evans is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Evans' use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to resonate today. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey on 16 August 1929, Evans was classically trained and studied at Southeastern Louisiana University. In 1955 he moved to New York, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis' sextet, where he was to have a profound influence. In 1959, the band, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album of all time. In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a seminal modern jazz trio. In 1961, ten days after recording the highly acclaimed Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, LaFaro died in a car accident. After months of seclusion, Evans re-emerged with a new trio, featuring bassist Chuck Israels. Despite his success, Evans suffered personal loss and struggled with drug abuse. Both his girlfriend Elaine and his brother Harry committed suicide, and he was a long time user of heroin. Many of his compositions have become standards and have been played and recorded by many artists. Evans was honored with 31 Grammy nominations and seven awards, and was inducted in the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. This compilation contains Evans' first 12 albums as leader covering the years 1956 - when he recorded and released his debut record New Jazz Conceptions featuring the original version of his most covered track 'Waltz For Debby' - through to his seminal Empathy album in 1962. Generally considered in jazz circles as the period in which Evans' star shone brightest and the era of his finest work, this 6CD set is as close to the perfect Bill Evans collection as is currently available.

(4-LP set) Ranked time after time as one of the best live jazz recording sessions in history, and yielding two of Evans' most classic albums (Waltz for Debby, Sunday at the Village Vanguard), The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 represents the pinnacle of spontaneous musical communication: three men breathing as one on a tiny bandstand. This box set is the ultimate collectable item for any jazz fan. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl, this four-LP set comes with a 12-page booklet, complete with new liner notes by reissue producer Bill Belmont, as well as the original liner notes by the producer of the original recordings, Orrin Keepnews. Reproductions of session notes and photographer Steve Schapiro's proof sheets from the performances add vintage context to the packaging. Also included in the box is a stunning metallic and black poster of the famous cover - Evans, in profile, deep in concentration at his piano.

Limited 180gm audiophile vinyl LP pressing in deluxe gatefold packaging. The album, recorded in 1958 and originally released via World Pacific, by Gil Evans - one of the most innovative arrangers in jazz. Evans' orchestra on this session is packed with a superb set of players, including Cannonball Adderley Art Blakey, Paul Chambers and Johnny Coles. Sourced from a previously unknown analog stereo master, the incredible session comes in the highest fidelity on this Tone Poet LP. Blue Note Records' Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series is produced by Joe Harley and features all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape.

Bill Evans's return to full activity in 1962 came almost a year after his celebrated trio recordings at the Village Vanguard. Just ten days after that classic "live" session, bassist Scott LaFaro had died in a highway accident. Evans, deeply shaken, eventually reformed his trio with the same drummer (Paul Motian) and Chuck Israels on bass. Their first visit to a studio was for a dual purpose: To make an all-ballad-tempo album, Moonbeams, and this "normal" set at the same time. It was producer Orrin Keepnews's thought that recording eight slow numbers in a row might prove unduly enervating; accordingly, the total two-album repertoire was interspersed over three days of recording and the net result was two excellent additions to the Evans catalog. With Chuck Israels, Paul Motian. Tracks: How My Heart Sings, I Should Care, in Your Own Sweet Way (take 1), Walking Up, Summertime, 34 Skidoo, Ev'rything I Love, Show-Type Tune.

The legendary last recording of Evans' brilliant trio (with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, who died days after this was taped at the Village Vanguard). Invigorating freedom and deep emotion meet and cast a powerful spell; this reissue adds alternate takes of Waltz for Debby; Detour Ahead, and My Romance plus other bonus material!

UK reissue. The original Bill Evans Trio, featuring Bill on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, was on the verge of greatness when tragedy struck. In July 1961 LaFaro was killed in a car accident, an event that took an enormous emotional toll on Evans, who withdrew from all work for nearly a year as he struggled to come to terms with the loss of his musical counterpart. When he eventually reconvened in the studio in May 1962 with Chuck Israels as a replacement bassist, it was to record MOON BEAMS, something of a ballad collection. It has been said that there was a certain irony in recording such a collection; the material is so natural for Bill Evans, particularly with his trademark impressionistic sound collage style, yet he had never sounded quite so assertive on a recording. It was almost as though that with the loss of LaFaro and an obvious counterpoint within the group, Evans now had to lead the trio on his own. One thing Bill Evans had done ever since he departed Miles Davis' group in order to form his own trio was choose superb material, and MOON BEAMS is no exception.

The 1961 engagement of Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian at the Village Vanguard is widely considered to be one of the most historic in jazz. This 3-CD set presents all five sets the trio performed in their original order. First time available in the U.S.!

Vinyl LP pressing. Live archive release. On A Monday Evening is an unreleased (and never bootlegged!) 1976 concert recording of The Bill Evans Trio, featuring Eddie Gomez and Eliot Zigmund, captured live at Madison, WI's Union Theater. The 12-track album offers both contemporary compositions from that era, as well as longstanding signature tunes of Evans', and includes new liner notes by Grammy Award-winning jazz historian Ashley Kahn, with commentary by Gomez and Zigmund. A jazz legend, Evans' use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today.

Two CDs. Archive release. This is the first official release from pianist Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell captured live in Hilversum and Amsterdam in 1969. The Hilversum recordings feature Evans' only version of Duke Ellington's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" known to exist, plus two rare tracks of the trio backed by The Metropole Orchestra. Remastered from the original tape reels, this edition includes an extensive booklet with never-before-published photos, essays and new interviews.

By the 1980's, Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire was a distinctive blend of Hendrix tunes, original pieces from band members and the occasional nod to Gil's earlier recordings. The set at Hamburg includes four songs from the Hendrix book, although just one of these ("Up From The Skies") was part of the original studio album. Regular appearances in Europe meant that the band had now acquired a younger following, such as many in the audience at Fabrik, one well accustomed to it's rock-referent concerts. A year and a half after the concert at Fabrik, Gil Evans passed away in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Quite rightly he'll always be remembered for recording those brilliant, luminous albums with Miles Davis and under his own name, but he had, in fact, led at least three contrasting musical lives. His final years saw him directing his band at a regular Monday night gig at Sweet Basil, New York, so it's fitting that we now have this recording from Hamburg, one that serves as a memorial to his free-spirited later days. With an All Star Musicians Cast.

Live At Fabrik Hamburg 1986 (180gr./triple-gatefold) By the 1980's, Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire was a distinctive blend of Hendrix tunes, original pieces from band members and the occasional nod to Gil's earlier recordings. The set at Hamburg includes four songs from the Hendrix book, although just one of these ("Up From The Skies") was part of the original studio album. Regular appearances in Europe meant that the band had now acquired a younger following, such as many in the audience at Fabrik, one well accustomed to it's rock-referent concerts. A year and a half after the concert at Fabrik, Gil Evans passed away in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Quite rightly he'll always be remembered for recording those brilliant, luminous albums with Miles Davis and under his own name, but he had, in fact, led at least three contrasting musical lives. His final years saw him directing his band at a regular Monday night gig at Sweet Basil, New York, so it's fitting that we now have this recording from Hamburg, one that serves as a memorial to his free-spirited later days. With an All Star Musicians Cast.

Vinyl LP pressing. The second album by the original Bill Evans group - released in 1961 - was recorded after the pianist, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian had spent a year working together and honing the telepathy that established a new standard for trio interaction. Featuring intimate readings of several standards plus three compositions from the jazz world that became synonymous with the trio's sounds, the album was cited by Evans years later as among his own favorite recordings.

Two CDs. Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings In Denmark 1965-1969 is a set of previously unreleased recordings by jazz piano icon Bill Evans, either live or in Danish TV and radio studios. Highlights include trio performances from 1965 with bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen; the only solo piano version of "My Funny Valentine" by Evans known to exist; a 1966 orchestral suite with the trio accompanied by the Danish Radio Big Band and more! Includes rare photos, liner notes and interviews.