EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS
I have a jazz album by the pianist Bill Evans. It’s on the Riverside label and I am trying to ascertain its origin and value. It does state that it was pressed in the UK on the Riverside label but a friend tells me that in 1959 the album would have only been pressed in America because Riverside didn’t have international distribution. He thinks that it’s probably a pressing from the 70s or 80s. Sadly, I am a somewhat older gentleman who is not connected to the web. So I thought a good old handwritten letter to Record Collector might get to the bottom of the problem!
Leonard Gittins
Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. After breaking onto the New York scene he was signed to Riverside for his debut LP, New Jazz Conceptions
(RLP 12223, US, 1957), recorded as a trio with Teddy Kotick (bass) and Paul Motion (drums). With Evans being unknown at this point, it only sold 800 copies in the first year of release. Mint copies of the first pressing are worth in the region of £800. Evans continued to play and record as a sideman, turning down Riverside’s offer of another solo outing as he did not feel he was ready.
Evans’ career went into high gear when he was head-hunted by trumpeter Miles Davis for his sextet. Davis was at that time the biggest artist in jazz and Evans replaced Red Garland in April 1958. Though he was only with the band for several months, Evans’ restrained manner had a big impact on Davis and the overall sound of the band. As Davis stated: “Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall. I had to change the way the band sounded again for Bill’s style by playing different tunes, softer ones at first.”
By the end of 1958 Evans had gone solo and was finally persuaded to record a second LP for Riverside. On the drum stool was Philly Joe Jones with Sam Jones on bass. It was called Everybody Digs Bill Evans which was a direct quote from Davis, who’d been enthusing about the pianist’s talent. Indeed, when Evans had left Davis the trumpeter even rang clubs to tell them to book Evans and his trio. The front cover also included quotes from pianists George Shearing, Ahmad Jamal and alto sax player Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. As the liner notes on the rear stated: “The four major artists whose signed praises of Evans are featured on the cover are arbitrarily selected – the full list of Evans fans among his fellow musicians is a much, longer one.” This was indeed true, as Evans won the new star award in the respected jazz journal, Downbeat, in 1958.
Meanwhile, Miles Davis was developing a modal style of jazz that found its perfect expression on the LP, Kind Of Blue, released in 1959. Though Evans had left the group, Davis knew that his style would be perfect for the modal direction and drafted him in for the session. He played on four of the five tracks. Evans’ replacement – Wynton Kelly – played on Freddie Freeloader. Evans’ contribution to the LP even included writing the liner notes on the rear of the sleeve.
Kind Of Blue took the jazz world by storm – it is one of the greatest albums ever recorded – and with Evans so prominent there was suddenly a lot of interest in his solo work. This not only helped his trio secure a full diary of bookings but also boosted the sales momentum of Everybody Digs Bill Evans and New Jazz Conceptions, the latter of which sold out its first run and was quickly re-pressed.
In the UK, big artists such as Davis enjoyed a high profile and as he was signed to a major label, Columbia, all his albums were released here, as were those of his legendary sidemen including John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Though Riverside were a small label they also decided
“THE SOUND WAS LIKE CRYSTAL, SPARKLING WATER”
to move into the European market. The popular Jazz News weekly carried an advert on 29 October 1960 announcing the first four Riverside albums to be pressed and released in the UK on 10 November 1960. These were The Thelonious Monk Orchestra At Town Hall (12300, £50), The Cannonball Adderley Quintet In San Francisco (12311, £50), Young Louis Armstrong (12101, £20) and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (12291).
As you probably know, these LPS are now 64 years old and finding one in Mint condition is very hard indeed. Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a stone cold classic, containing Peace Piece which sounds like a jazzlike echo of the music of Erik Satie, and the trio’s reading of standards such as Night And Day and Tenderly.
All the first four UK Riverside pressings were on a white label with blue type and had “produced in England by Interdisc” printed just beneath the Riverside name. Interdisc was a conglomerate set up in Europe to press and distribute American jazz albums pressed on smaller American labels including Riverside, in countries such as the UK, Italy, France and Germany.
This first UK pressing of Everybody Digs Bill Evans is very rare and worth £150 or more in stone Mint condition. The fact that you have the Interdisc reference and the original white and blue label confirms it as a first pressing rather than a reissue from the 70s or 80s.