Evans Conducts Electric Dreams, Live
Evans balanced written arrangements with improvisation better here than almost anywhere else in his later years.
What makes Svengali stick is David Sanborn's alto saxophone cutting through the orchestral mass—bright, urgent, a little raw against Evans's intricate charts. This wasn't Evans solo or in a trio; it was Evans as conductor of a full orchestra, and Sanborn was one of the few voices with enough edge to not get lost in the arrangement. By 1973, Evans had spent years wrestling with how to blend acoustic and electronic instruments without letting either swallow the other. Svengali—an anagram of his own name—shows him finally getting it right. Ted Dunbar on electric guitar, David Horowitz on synthesizer, and Bruce Ditmas on drums gave the band a modern core, but Evans layered horns and woodwinds around them with real craft, not busy-work. The thing that separates this from Evans's other orchestral work is the breathing room. Sections build, soloists emerge, then the arrangement pulls back and lets them finish. DownBeat's Chuck Mitchell heard it as Evans functioning like a sonic sorcerer, and that's not wrong—the record does have an otherworldly shimmer. But it's actually more grounded than that: a live session where an aging arranger proved he could still hear what was coming next in jazz, and still write for it without condescension.
Who's playing
Herb Bushlerbass
Gil Evanspiano
Ted Dunbarelectric guitar
Howard Johnsonbaritone saxophone
David Sanbornalto saxophone
Tex Allentrumpet
Richard Williamstrumpet
Joe Daleytrombone
Billy Harperflute
Trevor Koehlerflute
David Horowitzsynthesizer
Bruce Ditmasdrums
Sue Evanspercussion
Sharon FreemanFrench horn
Pete LevinFrench horn
Where next?
More by Gil Evans
There Comes a Time 1976
Great Jazz Standards 1959
The Individualism of Gil Evans 1964
The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix 1988
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
