About

In a career distinguished by collaborations with Miles Davis and historic orchestrations from cool to free jazz, Gil Evans' burgeoning work as a bandleader was on full display with 1964's The Individualism of Gil Evans, one of his most compelling and richly detailed works. Over the course of originals “Las Vegas Tango” and “El Toreador,” the Davis-Evans composition "Flute Song/Hotel Me" and an inspired interpretation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "The Barbara Song," Evans is in command of an all-star cast of musicians across multiple big band sessions. Players include Eric Dolphy on woodwinds, saxophone turns from Wayne Shorter and Phil Woods, Kenny Burrell's guitar, bassists Paul Chambers and Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones on drums — all anchored by Evans' deft hands at the piano as well as arranging and conducting. A gem in Verve Records' discography, The Individualism of Gil Evans highlights his mastery of tone, space, and orchestral nuance.

The Verve Vault series is all-analog, cut from the original master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. — (via Label)

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Well, there was an almost three-year gap in Evans’ solo career before the present on a different label (Verve, this time), in which I’m not sure what he did (outside Miles collabs) and it would almost seven years before another album would come out under his name. In the meantime, this isolated album just happens to be among his top 3 most essential albums, along with previous Out Of The Cool and the latter Svengali 70’s release. As often with GE, the music has a cinematic film (meaning it would be perfect to illustrate images, either documentaries or fiction), but it never gets boring and certainly don’t need visuals to exist and explode in your brains. Actually, as often, the music will induce images before you aural eyes. Among the cast of actors, you’ll find Shorter, Peacock, Elvin & Thad, Dolphy, Carter, Lacy, Chambers, Coles and Knepper and that’s only the name-dropping part.

Across the slice of wax, on the flipside, there was the 12-mins+ Flute-Hotel suite, the mood remains Rodrigo-styled in the intro, before Elvin bangs a tempo forcing the blowers and Gil to rolling over in a semi-bluesy groove, but it kind of overstays its welcome. Closing the original album is another Spanish-tinged track called Toreador that puts on an extra layer of dramatics. The album gets a prolonged life with the excellent and very à-propos Proclamation, another slow, brooding and dramatic cinematic piece. — (via Jazz Music Archives)

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Label: Verve Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold, 180g
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1964
Genre: Jazz
Style: Bop, Cool Jazz, Modal

File under: Audiophile Jazz
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