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- Date Released: June 25, 1961
- Genre: Jazz
- Style: Classic Jazz
- Label: Fantasy / Riverside
A flawless set from a masterful trio, shaded by tragedy.
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We Say...
Conventional wisdom, which in this case may be right, holds that Bill Evans' storied career peaked on June 25, 1961, a date that yielded two live records, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, the final two documents of Evans' first, and best, trio, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. In the two years he'd been playing with Evans, LaFaro had opened up new possibilities for the jazz bass, playing with a harmonically oblique, melodically flexible style that was, at the time, unprecedented. Ten days after this record was made he died, just 25 years old.
Sunday at the Village Vanguard may be the ultimate monument to LaFaro's talent; it features two of his compositions, "Gloria's Step" and "Jade Visions," and he plays lengthy and dazzling solos on nearly every track. It's not just LaFaro who was playing well, though — the whole trio was in top form for this date, a delicately balanced unit anchored weightlessly by Motian's ever-shifting, reactive timekeeping, with Evans' limpid, impressionistic harmonies floating above like clouds. There are no missteps in this set, but a highlight is the dark, mournful reading of Gershwin's "My Man's Gone Now." -
They Say...
Sunday at the Village Vanguard (and Waltz for Debby, its companion album) is one of the most important piano trio albums in history and a desert-island choice among many musicians. It marks the final appearance of bassist Scott LaFaro with Evans and drummer Paul Motian. LaFaro demonstrated a concept of jazz bass playing here that shattered traditional limits to how interactive and contrapuntal a bassline could be without totally abandoning its supportive function. He also soloed with unparalleled imagination and technical facility. The album also showed how Evans had refined an approach to solo improvisation in which the pulse was not as obvious as it had been in swing and bop approaches. And his extraordinarily high standards required that each improvised melodic idea be extensively developed, resulting in more continuity and pacing than was common to any previous modern style. The influence of what LaFaro and Evans laid out here was still being felt in the 1990s.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Gloria's Step (Take 2) |
6:12 |  |
| 02. | |
Gloria's Step (Take 3) |
6:56 | |
| 03. | |
My Man's Gone Now |
6:24 | |
| 04. | |
Solar |
8:56 | |
| 05. | |
Alice In Wonderland (Take 2) |
8:32 | |
| 06. | |
Alice In Wonderland (Take 1) |
7:02 | |
| 07. | |
All Of You (Take 2) |
8:19 | |
| 08. | |
All Of You (Take 3) |
8:05 | |
| 09. | |
Jade Visions (Take 2) |
3:54 | |
| 10. | |
Jade Visions (Take 1) |
4:09 | |
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10 Total Tracks, 68:29 Total Length
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Credits
- Bill Evans - Piano // Bill Evans - Piano // Bill Evans - Piano // Bill Evans - Piano // Bill Evans - Piano // Bill Evans - Main Performer // Bill Evans - Main Performer // Bill Evans - Main Performer // Bill Evans - Main Performer // Bill Evans - Main Performer // Ira Gitler - Liner Notes // Peter Grant - Design // Peter Grant - Series Design // Orrin Keepnews - Producer // Orrin Keepnews - Liner Notes // Orrin Keepnews - Reissue Producer // Orrin Keepnews - Annotation // Scott LaFaro - Bass // Scott LaFaro - Performer // Paul Motian - Drums // Nick Phillips - Project Supervisor // Akira Taguchi - Producer // Alan Yoshida - Mastering // Dave Jones - Engineer // Sam Gay - Director // Sam Gay - Creative Design // Ken Deardoff - Design // Ken Deardoff - Cover Design // Rikka Arnold - Editorial // Donald Silverstein - Photography // Donald Silverstein - Cover Photo // Tamaki Beck - Mastering Engineer // Steve Schapiro - Photography // Chris Clough - Project Assistant // Albert Roman - Project Assistant // Larissa Collins - Art Direction
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Other Details
- Instrument:
- Piano
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