Bill Evans/George Russell - Living Time (1972)

Ernie Royal, Richard Williams, Snooky Young (tp, flh) Howard Johnson (flh, tu, bcl) Dave Baker, Garnett Brown (tb) Dave Bargeron (tb, tu) John Clark (frh) Jimmy Giuffre, Joe Henderson, Sam Rivers (reeds) Bill Evans (p) Webster Lewis, Ted Saunders (el-p) Sam Brown (g) Eddie Gomez (b) Ron Carter, Herb Geller (el-b) Marty Morell, Tony Williams (d) Marc Belair (d, per)
George Russell (arr, cond)

NYC, May, 1972

*Bill Evans: piano, rhodes electric piano
*Eddie Gomez: acoustic bass
*Marty Morell: drums.
*Snooky Young, Ernie Royal, Richard Williams,Stanton Davis: trumpet
*Snooky Young, Ernie Royal, Richard Williams, Howard Johnson: flugelhorn
*John Clark: french horn
*Howard Johnson, Dave Bargeron: tuba
*Jimmy Guiffre, Sam Rivers: tenor saxophone, flute
*Sam Rivers: obo
*Howard Johnson: bass clatinet
*Ron Carter (on 5,7), Stanley Clark (on 1,2,3),Herb Bushler (on 4,6,8): fender bass
*Sam Brown: bass guitar, electric guitar
*Ted Saunders: electric piano, clavinette
*Webster Lewis: organ, electric piano
*Tony Williams: drums
*Marc Belair: percussion

*01.: Living Time - Event I (3:52)
*02.: Living Time - Event II (8:24)
*03.: Living Time - Event III (2:50)
*04.: Living Time - Event IV (5:32)
*05.: Living Time - Event V (11:56)
*06.: Living Time - Event VI (4:16)
*07.: Living Time - Event VII (2:10)
*08.: Living Time - Event VIII (5:41)

SEE...

"Evans got involved in two projects with large orchestra at this time. The first, in 1972, was the controversial Living Time, conceived and worked out with his friend George Russell. It was Evans himself, in an effort to satisfy Columbia Records' urging for more saleable ideas, who had come up with the idea of an album featuring him with a large ensemble. As had already happened other times in the past, Russell again appeared to be trying to force Evans into formally freer situations, acting out his usual role as “stimulator of the new and unknown” which left Evans more than a little uneasy. Russell's score on this occasion was a daring fusion of rock, informal jazz and modal music where Bill seemed a bit like a fish out of water: “Bill played like he was being pushed into some other level, hit over the head, kicked in the behind,” Russell is quoted as saying, adding, paradoxically, “I love and respect Bill's playing so much that I really couldn't resist the challenge.” The album turned out to be difficult for the average listener as well. Even with the presence of musicians like Jimmy Giuffre, Sam Rivers, Joe Henderson and Ron Carter, the outcome was a complex music which had trouble moving ahead as a result of Russell's need more to scratch his experimental itch than to accommodate the natural feeling of the musicians involved."

(Bill Evans: Ritratto d’artista con pianoforte/Bill Evans: The Pianist as an Artist.Enrico Pieranunzi, Rome 1999, Stampa Alternativa)