Customer Reviews
In lyrical, reflective mood. - By: MikeG, 16 Feb 2003 
Bill Evans had a distinctive way with a slow ballad which became highly influential; so one can understand why,in the early sixties, his producer wanted to make an all-ballad Evans album. He created the album by extracting the slower tempoed pieces from this recording session under the title 'Moonbeams', publishing the remaining tracks from the session on a companion album, 'How My Heart Sings'. Both are highly recommended.
The risk of monotony on an all-ballad album is avoided partly because of the intense concentration of Evans's playing but also through the variety of the material itself. It also helps that the two Evans compositions vary the pace by being quicker-tempoed as well as being differentin character: "Re: Person I Knew" is a modal theme with a slow introduction which subtly modulates into a gently swinging solo; "Very Early" is one of Evans's jazz waltzes, slowish but again gently swinging.
Since everything on this album is beautifully played, favourite tracks are very much a matter of personal preference. For me, the briefest track: "I Fallin Love Too Easily", is also one of the most affecting, beginning gently but building up to a kind of contained passion expressed through the rhythmic intensity of the playing. It's hard to imagine the Tadd Dameron composition "If You Could See Me Now" being better played & some of the more familiar standard tunes like "Polka Dots & Moonbeams" & "It Might As Well Be Spring" gain so much from the Evans treatment that you think of him not so much as playing them but as making them his own.
A word too for the sensitive playing of bassist Chuck Israels & drummer Paul Motian, both of whom on their various recordings with Evans had an almost telepathic rapport with the pianist, particularly at a slow tempo. What they are doing here may sound elementary, but try imagining what the music would be like without them & you can hear how much the success of the music depends on their contributions.
This is an album you can return to again & again & continue to findin it fresh subtleties. If you are building a Bill Evans collection, this is an essential purchase. And if you like Evansin this lyrical, reflective mood, I would recommend that you look up my reviews of the albums 'Undercurrent', 'You Must Believein Spring' & a compilation by Verve titled 'Quiet Now: Never Let Me Go'. There are also some excellent slow ballad performances on a CD on the Belgian 'Jazz Hour' label titled 'Autumn Leaves: a jazz hour with Bill Evans' (from which "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" is one of my favourite Evans performances).
A classic by a great ballad stylist - By: Peter Coats, 29 Nov 2001 Like the John Coltrane Ballads album (also strongly recommended) this album is a rare example of a jazz album made up exclusively of ballads.
Evans is one of the few musicians who could carry it off - the tunes have a consistent mood & dynamics, but the intelligence & intensity of Evan's playing avoids the blandness which might have affected a lesser artist. The overall effect is also helped by the fact that the album was recorded together with the faster, more swinging album "How my heart sings", with the trio alternating the ballads on "Moonbeams" with the more straight-ahead tunes on "How my heart sings".
"Polkadots & moonbeams" is a particular favourite.
Evans is also one of those artists where, if you like one album, you'll probably like almost anything he's produced, particularly anything up to 1965. For starters, check out "Sunday at the Village Vanguard", "Waltz for Debby" or "Trio 64", not forgetting Evan's major rolein the landmark Miles Davis album "Kind of Blue".
