The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings
Encyclopedia
Track listing
- All compositions by Bill Evans except as indicated
Disc One:
- "After You, Who?After You, Who?"After You, Who?" is a song written by Cole Porter for his 1932 musical Gay Divorce, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire.-Notable recordings:*Ella Fitzgerald - Dream Dancing...
" (Cole PorterCole PorterCole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
- 2:41 - "Like Someone in LoveLike Someone in LoveLike Someone in Love is an album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol...
" (Johnny BurkeJohnny Burke (lyricist)Johnny Burke was a lyricist, widely regarded as one of the finest writers of popular songs in America between the 1920s and 1950s.-Biography:...
, Jimmy Van Heusen) - 6:56 - "Polka Dots and MoonbeamsPolka Dots and Moonbeams"Polka Dots and Moonbeams" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1940. It was Frank Sinatra's first hit recorded with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra...
(Burke, Van Heusen) - 7:03 - "EmilyEmily (Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer song)"Emily" is a popular song composed by Johnny Mandel, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was the title song to the 1964 film The Americanization of Emily, where it was introduced by Julie Andrews. It has since been recorded by numerous artists, notably Bill Evans and Tony Bennett...
" (Johnny MandelJohnny MandelJohnny Mandel is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley Horn.-Life:...
, Johnny MercerJohnny MercerJohn Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
) - 5:43 - "Turn Out the Stars" - 9:14
- "I Do It for Your Love" (Paul SimonPaul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
) - 6:33 - "Nardis" (Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
) - 7:18 - "But Beautiful" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 4:49
Disc Two:
- "Yet Ne'er Broken" - 6:40
- "Knit for Mary F." - 7:03
- "The Touch of Your Lips" (Ray NobleRay Noble (musician)Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
) - 5:29 - "My Man's Gone NowMy Man's Gone NowMy Man's Gone Now is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by DuBose Heyward, written for the folk opera Porgy and Bess . Sung in the original production by Ruby Elzy, it has been covered by many female singers notably Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughan, and Shirley Horn, among...
" (George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Ira GershwinIra GershwinIra Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
, Dubose HeywardDuBose HeywardEdwin DuBose Heyward was a white American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was the basis for the play by the same name and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin.-Life and career:Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina and was a...
) - 6:52 - "Turn Out the Stars" - 6:31
- "Your Story" - 5:12
- "Nardis" (Davis) - 17:41
Disc Three:
- "Peau Douce" (Steve SwallowSteve SwallowSteve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
) - 5:43 - "Yet Ne'er Broken" - 6:08
- "My Foolish HeartMy Foolish Heart (song)"My Foolish Heart" is a popular song that was published in 1949.The music was written by Victor Young and the lyrics by Ned Washington. The song was introduced by the singer Martha Mears in the 1949 film of the same name. The song failed to escape critics' general laceration of the film...
" (Ned WashingtonNed WashingtonNed Washington was an American lyricist.-Biography:Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962...
, Victor YoungVictor YoungVictor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
) - 5:13 - "Up With the Lark" (Jerome KernJerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, Leo RobinLeo RobinLeo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
) - 5:52 - "Turn Out the Stars" - 8:01
- "I Do It for Your Love" (Simon) - 6:07
- "Nardis" (Davis) - 15:55
- "Noelle's Theme/I Loves You, Porgy" (Michel LegrandMichel LegrandMichel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
/Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward) - 7:30
Disc Four:
- "Yet Ne'er Broken" - 6:06
- "Spring Is HereSpring Is Here"Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical I Married an Angel , where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal.-Notable recordings:...
" (Lorenz HartLorenz HartLorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
, Richard RodgersRichard RodgersRichard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
) - 4:16 - "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)Who Can I Turn To?"Who Can I Turn To?" is a popular song. It may be titled "Who Can I Turn To ".It was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley and published in 1964. The song was introduced in the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, which struggled in the United Kingdom in 1964 and...
" (Leslie BricusseLeslie BricusseLeslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
, Anthony NewleyAnthony NewleyAnthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
) - 5:59 - "Letter to Evan" - 6:44
- "If You Could See Me Now" (Tadd DameronTadd DameronTadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger and pianist. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement, while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland,...
, Carl SigmanCarl SigmanCarl Sigman was an American songwriter.-Biography:Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his Bar exams to practice in the state of New York...
) - 5:28 - "The Two Lonely People" (Evans, Carol HallCarol HallCarol Hall is an American composer and lyricist, born in Abilene, Texas.Hall is best known for composing the music and lyrics for the Broadway stage musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas...
) - 6:43 - "A Sleepin' BeeA Sleepin' Bee"A Sleepin' Bee" is a popular song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote. It was introduced in the musical House of Flowers by Diahann Carroll.The signature line is "When a bee lies sleeping In the palm of your hand ..."...
" (Harold ArlenHarold ArlenHarold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
, Truman CapoteTruman CapoteTruman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
) - 5:18 - "Haunted Heart" (Howard DietzHoward DietzHoward Dietz was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist.-Biography:Dietz was born in New York City and studied journalism at Columbia University...
, Arthur SchwartzArthur SchwartzArthur Schwartz was an American composer and film producer.Schwartz supported his legal studies at New York University and postgraduate studies at Columbia University by playing piano before concentrating his talents on vaudeville, Broadway theatre and Hollywood.Among his Broadway musicals are The...
) - 4:49 - "Five" - 4:19
Disc Five:
- "Re: Person I Knew" - 4:02
- "Tiffany" - 5:36
- "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 6:16
- "Like Someone in Love" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 7:02
- "Your Story" - 4:26
- "Someday My Prince Will Come" (Frank ChurchillFrank ChurchillFrank Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"...
, Larry MoreyLarry MoreyLarry Morey was an American lyricist, who was responsible for co-writing some of the most successful songs in Disney movies of the 1930s and 1940s, including "Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Whistle While You Work"...
) - 7:05 - "Letter to Evan" - 6:28
- "My RomanceMy Romance (song)"My Romance" is a popular song, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, written for Billy Rose's musical, Jumbo . In the 1962 movie version of Jumbo, Doris Day performed the song....
" (Hart, Rodgers) - 9:15 - "But BeautifulBut Beautiful (song)"But Beautiful" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was published in 1947.One of five songs written by Burke and Van Heusen featured in the Paramount Pictures movie Road to Rio , it was introduced by Bing Crosby and is also associated with...
" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 4:03
Disc Six:
- "Mornin' Glory" (Bobby Gentry) - 3:59
- "Emily" (Mandel, Mercer) - 4:59
- "Knit for Mary F." - 6:25
- "Days of Wine and RosesDays of Wine and Roses (song)"Days of Wine and Roses" is a popular song, from the 1962 movie of the same name.The music was written by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They received the Academy Award for Best Original Song for their work...
" (Henry ManciniHenry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, Johnny MercerJohnny MercerJohn Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
) - 7:46 - "Up With the Lark" (Kern, Robin) - 5:19
- "My Foolish Heart" (Washington, Young) - 4:17
- "Nardis" (Davis) - 15:17
- "But Beautiful" (Burke, Van Heusen) - 3:50
Disc Seven:
- "My Foolish Heart" (Washington, Young) - 4:03
- "Nardis" (Davis) - 17:47
- "Mother of Pearl" (Earl ZindarsEarl ZindarsEarl Zindars was an American composer of jazz and classical music.-Biography:Chicago-born Earl Zindars graduated from DePaul University and went on to earn a Masters Degree in Music Composition from Northwestern University. He studied with Dr...
) - 5:04 - "If You Could See Me Now" (Dameron, Sigman) - 5:49
- "My Man's Gone Now" (Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward) - 4:36
- "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" (Bricusse, Newley) - 6:05
- "Waltz for DebbyWaltz for Debby (song)"Waltz for Debby" is a jazz standard composed by Bill Evans. A piano trio jazz waltz, it was first recorded on Evans's 1956 album New Jazz Conceptions and, perhaps more famously, on his 1961 live album Waltz for Debby. It has been recorded by many artists, both as an instrumental and as a vocal piece...
(Evans, Gene LeesGene LeesFrederick Eugene John "Gene" Lees was a Canadian music critic, biographer, lyricist, and former journalist. Lees worked as a newspaper journalist in his native Canada before moving to the United States where he was a music critic and lyricist...
)- 6:20 - "Spring Is Here" (Hart, Rodgers) - 3:51
- "Five" - 3:53
Disc Eight:
- "Letter to Evan" - 8:07
- "My Man's Gone Now" (Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward)- 6:27
- "34 Skidoo" - 6:27
- "Spring Is Here"(Hart, Rodgers) - 4:43
- "Autumn LeavesAutumn Leaves (song)"Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song "Les Feuilles mortes" with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. Yves Montand introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la Nuit...
" (Joseph KosmaJoseph KosmaJoseph Kosma was a Hungarian-French composer, of Jewish background.-Biography:Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Akos. A maternal relative was the photographer László Moholy-Nagy, and another relative was the conductor Georg...
, Jacques PrévertJacques PrévertJacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. Some of the movies he wrote are extremely well regarded, with Les Enfants du Paradis considered one of the greatest films of all time.-Life and...
, Johnny MercerJohnny MercerJohn Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
)- 5:39 - "Knit for Mary F." - 6:31
- "Nardis" (Davis) - 19:35
- Recorded at Keystone Korner, San Francisco on August 31 (disc 1), September 1 (disc 2), September 2 & 3 (disc 3 & 4), September 4 (disc 5), September 5 & 6, (disc 6), September 7 (disc 7), and September 8 (disc 8), 1980.
Personnel
- Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
- pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Marc Johnson - bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- Joe LaBarberaJoe LaBarberaJoe LaBarbera is an American jazz drummer and composer. He is best known for his recordings and live performances with the trio of pianist Bill Evans in the final years of Evans's career. Prior to joining Evans he worked in the quartet of Chuck Mangione and Joe Farrell.- Early life :He was born...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....