Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961)

Had this, one of the greatest piano trio recordings ever made, on heavy rotation these past weeks, and realised I hadn't posted it yet.  Two albums were assembled from Bill Evans Trio live recordings at NYC's Village Vanguard on 25 June 1961 - the other one was Waltz For Debby (see links list below).

Both can be slightly spooky records to listen to, with the knowledge that the 25-year old bassist was playing his final Bill Evans Trio show before a fatal car accident two weeks later.  Sunday At The Village Vanguard was thus arranged as a tribute to Scott LaFaro, bookended by two of his compositions, and highlighting his brilliant playing throughout.  As we just had Weather Report's debut album last week, here's Miroslav Vitouš describing how the 'bass as equal-stature instrument' sound of Sunday At The Village Vanguard influenced him in the setup of early Weather Report.  Bill Evans is naturally on top form throughout as a harmonic and melodic master, and Paul Motian is the backbone of this top-tier, close-knit trio.

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pw: sgtg

Bill Evans at SGTG:
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
The Blues And The Abstract Truth
Waltz For Debby
Undercurrent
I Will Say Goodbye

Bill Evans Trio - Waltz For Debby (rec. 1961, rel. 1962)

I'm not necessarily going to make "jazz piano Friday" a regular feature of this blog - far too many sonic extremities still to come for that!  But for now, for the second Friday in a row, here's one of the greatest piano trios of all time in a career-best, that would come to a tragic end only days after recording.

Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident at just 25 robbed the jazz world of one of its most promising young bass players, and this album was the second live album to be drawn from these final recordings of the trio, after the more simply descriptive Sunday At The Village Vanguard (released five months previous).  Waltz For Debby has the slight edge for me - not least because of the title track, one of Evans' most beautiful original tunes ever, named for his niece.

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