Undercurrent

Product Information

Some reissues include four bonus tracks, including two alternate takes and previously unheard versions of "Stairway to the Stars" and "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. Occasionally during UNDERCURRENT one expects the other shoe to drop: the growl of a bass entering in half time, wire brushes falling patiently into place on a sizzle cymbal. I am slowly building up my jazz collection, which includes classics from Coltrane, Miles Davis, Mingus, Adderley and others.

I simply can't stop playing this disc and have made a copy for the car and also put it on my iPad, sitting, walking or driving I'm thrilled by it and always hear something new. This reissue does an outstanding job of reducing noise from the master tapes — now well over fifty years old — without sacrificing musical detail. Here, as elsewhere on the album, it is often difficult to believe there are only two musicians at work.

Whether it owes to the intimate pairing, he and Hall’s brotherly chemistry, or the exquisite selection of program material, the results consistently come across as the equivalent of a private meditation – such is the level of introspective depth and quietly shaded interplay throughout. The cover of the album doesn’t feature any names or even a title, just a mysterious black and white photograph of a woman floating, Ophelia-like, in dark water. At times, Evans and Hall go for broke on a hard-swinging romps, yet it’s their implied melancholy and drifting, softly struck melodic refrains on waltzes and ballads that bestows Undercurrent with a nuanced romanticism and whispered atmosphere befitting the record’s title. The execution of these tunes couldn't be more minimal - just Evans' piano and Hall's guitar vibing off each other.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has been the undisputed pioneer and leader in audiophile recordings since the company's inception in 1977. Whether it owes to the intimate pairing, he and Halls' brotherly chemistry, or the exquisite selection of program material, the results consistently come across as the equivalent of a private meditation, such is the level of introspective depth and quietly shaded interplay throughout.For Evans, the duet clearly functions as therapy, a healing episode in which his partner patiently lays back, shadowing moves and suggesting others, neither musician interested in the spotlight but each striving for (and achieving) transcendent beauty. Bill Evans and Jim Hall in particular were kindred spirits, sharing a love of chamber jazz, and Hall had already demonstrated his skill in Jimmy Giuffre’s trio. I am not generally a fan of Bill Evans (wash your mouth out with soap and water) but have always admired Jim Hall.