Frank Evans: Soirée - The Guitar Of Frank Evans (1977)

Another beautiful excursion into solo jazz guitar from the British maestro.

Evans says it all in his liner notes:
In selecting the items for an album entitled Soirée, I decided that the music should convey that feeling to the listener; and also that more varied aspects of my guitar be heard, including the manner in which I normally play in public. So I concluded that Side One be devoted to my own compositions and arrangements recorded in a studio setting and Side Two recorded on location before a receptive audience to show how one reacts to the two situations and its effect on my playing. But what is more important, I wanted to give the listener a choice of moods which I believe to be a contributory factor in making records which, hopefully, are to be enjoyed for a considerable time.

On 'Andalucia' I thought it important to maintain the classical Spanish character but at the same time give it a moody Moorish atmosphere. Each jazz section is preceded by the secondary themes played out of tempo and completely solo by the featured player and then into the chord sequence of the main theme in time. In this way, I hope that I have not detracted from the original beauty of the piece but perhaps given it an added dimension.

The original guitar solos rather gave away my influences; 'Waltz for Django' is my dedication to that great man. I've often wondered if, had he had full use of his left hand would his music have been more chordal and complex? 'Dear Bill' trys to capture the piano style of my favourite pianist Bill Evans and finally 'Soiree' is dedicated to Laurindo Almeida who first prompted me into playing the Spanish guitar.

On the live session, I just sat down with a battered old Gibson and aimed to entertain the audience with guitar solos unprepared, which after all is what I have been doing most of my life as a musician.

Hope you enjoy my Soirée.
Frank Evans

Frank Evans: Soirée
Blue Bag BB102
UK, 1977

A1 Waltz For Django (Evans)
A2 Andalucia (Granados)
A3 Dear Bill (Evans)
A4 Soirée (Evans)

B1 Autumn Leaves (Mercer/Kosma)
B2 What's New? (Haggart/Burke)
B3 Angel Eyes (Brent/Dennis)
B4 Misty (Garner/Burke)
B5 Manoir De Mes Reves (Reinhardt)
B6 All The Things You Are (Kern)

Frank Evans (g)
for A2, add:
Lester Thompson (flh) Mike Hope (e-p) Graham Sothcott (b) Chris Evans (d)

Recorded May 5,6,7, 1977

There's more Evans in the archives here, here and here.