On his Jazz Profiles blog, Steve Cerra is featuring pianist Bill Evans’s The Secret Sessions collection recorded at New York’s Village Vanguard. A fan named Mike Harris taped Evans and his trio at the club many times from 1966 to 1973. It is likely that Evans eventually knew about the surreptitious tapings and chose to look the other way rather than invoke intellectual property laws.
The heart of Mr. Cerra’s feature is the essay that I wrote for the 1996 release of an eight-CD box compiled from the Harris tapes. His post also includes producer Orrin Keepnews’s recollections of his long association with the pianist. Among the sidemen who appear on the album are drummers Philly Joe Jones, Marty Morell and Arnie Wise. The bassists are Teddy Kotick and Eddie Gomez. To see the Jazz Profiles post about Evans, go here.