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Title: Bill Evans Trio – Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961) [2002, Analogue Productions Stereo SACD]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO

Most of the APO analog to DSD conversions are great, but this one is probably the best from a sonic perspective. And if you like jazz trio’s with articulate bass playing and a clear and purposeful piano technique, then you are in for a treat. This is a live recording set at the New York Village Vanguard jazz club with accompanying audience ‘participation’, though that never distracts. The Stereo separation is rather absolute left/right, with the piano in the right speaker and the rest in the left. There is virtually no center image. It is said that the interaction with his rhythmn section and the prominent place he gives them is a hallmark of the Bill Evans Trio. The bass of Scott LaFaro gets the same attention here as Bill Evans’ piano. Every song is rich in texture and communicates the enormous skills of each of the players. There are many tempo changes and the playing just demands your attention. This is not one for background music, it’s far too interesting for that. Unfortunately LaFaro died in a car accident ten days after this recording – one of the reasons for featuring him so prominently here. A second album was cut of this session. So if you want to re-live that afternoon on June 25, 1961, you have no choice to buy ‘Waltz For Debbie’ as well – some choice === One of the finest sounding Jazz SACDs in my collection. Expensive now (cira 2013), but it is a must have SACD. At first I thought there was a pressing error/glitch on one track, but I double checked the OJC Red Book and it is there as well. Every system update reveals more information from this stunning SACD. It will hurt when you shell out the bucks for it today unless you can get a good deal, but man is it so worth it! Highest recommendation. sa-cd.net

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Title: Bill Evans Trio – Moon Beams (1962) [2002, Analogue Productions Stereo SACD]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Review by Thom Jurek Moonbeams was the first recording Bill Evans made after the death of his musical right arm, bassist Scott LaFaro. Indeed, in LaFaro, Evans found a counterpart rather than a sideman, and the music they made together over four albums showed it. Bassist Chuck Israels from Cecil Taylor and Bud Powell’s bands took his place in the band with Evans and drummer Paul Motian and Evans recorded the only possible response to the loss of LaFaro — an album of ballads. The irony on this recording is that, despite material that was so natural for Evans to play, particularly with his trademark impressionistic sound collage style, is that other than as a sideman almost ten years before, he has never been more assertive than on Moonbeams. It is as if, with the death of LaFaro, Evans’ safety net was gone and he had to lead the trio alone. And he does first and foremost by abandoning the impressionism in favor of a more rhythmic and muscular approach to harmony. The set opens with an Evans original, “RE: Person I Knew,” a modal study that looks back to his days he spent with Miles Davis. There is perhaps the signature jazz rendition of “Stairway to the Stars,” with its loping yet halting melody line and solo that is heightened by Motian’s gorgeous brush accents in the bridge section. Other selections are so well paced and sequenced the record feels like a dream, with the lovely stuttering arpeggios that fall in “If You Could See Me Now,” and the cascading interplay between Evan’s chords and Israel’s punctuation in “It Might As Well Be Spring,” a tune Evans played for the rest of his life. The set concludes with a waltz in “Very Early,” that is played at that proper tempo with great taste and delicate elegance throughout, there is no temptation by the rhythm section to charge it up or to elongate the harmonic architecture by means of juggling intervals. Moonbeams was a startling return to the recording sphere and a major advancement in his development as a leader. allmusicguide There is a storyline running through this and the other two Evans album – also reviewed here – that provides depth to the music. It’s of course about LaFaro, but there is more. When Bill Evans does ballads I always feel he is talking, and that takes listening to him to a different level. It’s not only a fine flowing, elegant piano piece – but let’s not forget the sensitive contributions of Chuck Israels on bass and Paul Motian on drums. It has that something extra that is difficult to put into words. It invites you to really listen and it takes the ballad out of the realm of background music. Analogue Productions has produced some of the best sounding piano on SA-CD, and this one is no exception. If you want to listen to Bill Evans’ story you owe it to yourself to buy all three discs (‘Saturday At The Village Vanguard’ and ‘Waltz For Debbie’ are the other two). sa-cd.net

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Title: Bill Evans – Trio 64 (1964) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2012]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Joining Bill Evans (piano) on Trio ’64 – his initial three-piece recording for Verve – is the compact rhythm section of Gary Peacock (bass) and Paul Motian (drums). The effort spotlights their communal and intuitive musical discourse, hinging on an uncanny ability of the musicians to simultaneously hear and respond. All the more interesting, Evans had not interacted in this setting before, having most recently worked with Chuck Israels (bass) and Larry Bunker (drums). The personable opener, “Little Lulu,” features the aggregate melodically molding individual and distinct sonic characteristics. Evans’ nimble and emphatic syncopation is not only ably supported, but framed by Peacock’s expressive runs and Motian’s acute sense of timing. “A Sleeping Bee” is one of the collection’s most endearing selections as the groove playfully scintillates surrounding some hauntingly poignant chord changes. Evans bandies back and forth with Peacock, the latter likewise providing a stellar solo. “Always” captures a similar effervescence as the instrumentalists ebb and flow in synchronicity. Since the December 18 session was held the week before Christmas 1963, they fittingly tote out “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” creating a minor masterpiece of post-bop from what could easily have started as a spontaneous seasonal suggestion. Noël Coward’s “I’ll See You Again” bears a brisk waltz persona, enabling the unit to fluently weave its offerings without obstructing the otherwise affective tune. Concluding Trio ’64 is Rodgers & Hart’s standard “Everything Happens to Me,” with an unhurried tempo lingering just long enough to embrace the familiar refrain. Evans sparkles, gliding around Peacock’s full-bodied basslines and Motian’s solid yet restrained beat.

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Title: Bill Evans Trio – Portrait In Jazz (1959) [Reissue 2003]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The first of two studio albums by the Bill Evans-Scott LaFaro-Paul Motian trio (both of which preceded their famous engagement at the Village Vanguard), this Portrait in Jazz reissue contains some wondrous interplay, particularly between pianist Evans and bassist LaFaro, on the two versions of “Autumn Leaves.” Other than introducing Evans’ “Peri’s Scope,” the music is comprised of standards, but the influential interpretations were far from routine or predictable at the time. LaFaro and Motian were nearly equal partners with the pianist in the ensembles and their versions of such tunes as “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “When I Fall in Love,” and “Someday My Prince Will Come” (which preceded Miles Davis’ famous recording by a couple years) are full of subtle and surprising creativity. A gem.

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Title: Bill Evans Quintet – Interplay (1962) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Interplay stands as some of Bill Evans’ most enigmatic and unusual music in makeup as well as execution. It was recorded in July 1962 with a very young Freddie Hubbard from the Jazz Messengers, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Philly Joe Jones performing five veteran standards. Evans has a more blues-based approach to playing: harder, edgier, and in full flow, fueled in no small part by Hall, who is at his very best here, swinging hard whether it be a ballad or an uptempo number. Hubbard’s playing, on the other hand, was never so restrained as it was here. Using a mute most of the time, his lyricism is revealed to jazz listeners for the first time — with Art Blakey it was a blistering attack of hard bop aggression. On this program of standards, however, Hubbard slips into them quite naturally without the burden of history — check his reading and improvisation on “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Ironically, it’s on the sole original, the title track, where the band in all its restrained, swinging power can be best heard, though the rest is striking finger-popping hard bop jazz, with stellar crystalline beauty in the ballads.

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Title: Bill Evans – Explorations (1961) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

When this album was recorded in February of 1961, it had been more than year since the Portrait in Jazz was issued, the disc that won the critics over. By the time of this issue, Evans had released four albums in six years, a pace unheard of during that time. Most musicians were issuing two, three, and even four records a year during the same era. Many speculate on Evans’ personal problems at the time, but the truth of the matter lies in the recordings themselves, and Explorations proves that the artist was worth waiting for no matter what else was going on out there. Evans, with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, was onto something as a trio, exploring the undersides of melodic and rhythmic constructions that had never been considered by most. For one thing, Evans resurrects a number of tunes that had been considered hopelessly played out, and literally reinvents them — “How Deep Is the Ocean” and “Sweet and Lovely.” His harmonic richness that extends the melodic and color palette of these numbers literally revived them from obscurity and brought them back into the canon. He also introduced “Haunted Heart” into the jazz repertoire, with a wonderfully impressionistic melodic structure, offered space, and depth by the understatement of Motian and extension by LaFaro’s canny use of intervals. Also noteworthy is Miles Davis’ “Nardis,” which Evans first played on a Cannonball Adderley set a couple of years before. The rhythmic workout by the Motian and LaFaro places Evans’ own playing in a new context, with shorter lines, chopping up the meter, and a series of arpeggios that open the ground for revelatory solo in counterpoint by LaFaro. Explorations is an extraordinary example of the reach and breadth of this trio at its peak.

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Title: Bill Evans – Bill Evans At The Montreux Festival (1968) [Japanese Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino De Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland on June 15, 1968. Originally released on Verve (8762). Includes liner notes by Gene Lees. Digitally remastered by Dennis Drake (Polygram Studios) & Gert Van Hoeyen (Polygram Sound Lab, Baarn, The Netherlands). A unique Japanese SACD remaster of the American musician’s 1968 release as part of the ‘Verve 60th Anniversary Supreme Sound Edition’ series; DSD digitally remastered by Seigen Ono. Centre label of the original LP faithfully reproduced on the CD.

At the Montreux Jazz Festival, marks the beginning of stylistic changes for the legendary pianist. Only 1 year earlier, his At Town Hall release found his approach generally more introspective & brooding. In contrast, this set is more lively, playful, & experimental. Much of this is down to the active & intense drumming of Jack DeJohnette, who had joined the trio only a short time before this concert was recorded; longtime bandmate Eddie Gomez is also featured on this album. His energetic soloing adds veracity to tunes such as “Embraceable You” & “A Sleeping Bee.” DeJohnette, too, is given several opportunities to display his drumming skills. His lengthy solo on “Nardis” displays his technical prowess & 4-way coordination; such acumen would later cause jazz fans & critics alike to hail DeJohnette as 1 of the world’s premier jazz drummers. Evans, famous for a soft-spoken pianistic touch, seems driven to new vistas on this album. He experiments more with harmonic dissonance & striking rhythmical contrasts, making this his most extroverted playing since his freshman release, New Jazz Conceptions. This is part of Verve’s Master Edition series.

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