[DLeeWebb]

"The Best Of Bill Frisell vol. 1 | folk songs" - Bill Frisell

 

[Quinto]

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961

 [Box 3CD Set, Live,

Original Recording 2005 Remaster]

 

 
 

 

Review by Thom Jurek  [-]

Recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961, shortly before Scott LaFaro's death, Waltz for Debby is the second album issued from that historic session, and the final one from that legendary trio that also contained drummer Paul Motian. While the Sunday at the Village Vanguard album focused on material where LaFaro soloed prominently, this is far more a portrait of the trio on those dates. 

Evans chose the material here, and, possibly, in some unconscious way, revealed on these sessions -- and the two following LaFaro's death (Moonbeams and How My Heart Sings!) -- a different side of his musical personality that had never been displayed on his earlier solo recordings or during his tenures with Miles Davis and George Russell: Evans was an intensely romantic player, flagrantly emotional, and that is revealed here in spades on tunes such as "My Foolish Heart" and "Detour Ahead." There is a kind of impressionistic construction to his harmonic architecture that plays off the middle registers and goes deeper into its sonances in order to set into motion numerous melodic fragments simultaneously. The rhythmic intensity that he displayed as a sideman is evident here in "Milestones," with its muscular shifting time signature and those large, flatted ninths with the right hand.

The trio's most impressive interplay is in "My Romance," after Evans' opening moments introducing the changes. Here Motian's brushwork is delicate, flighty and elegant, and LaFaro controls the dynamic of the tune with his light as a feather pizzicato work and makes Evans' deeply emotional statements swing effortlessly. Of the many recordings Evans issued, the two Vanguard dates and Explorations are the ultimate expressions of his legendary trio



=================================================
"Jazz's Perfect Afternoon" a review of _Bill Evans: The Complete Live at the Village Vanguard 1961_ ([Tokyo] Japan: Victor Entertainment, 2002), recorded in performance at the Village Vanguard, New York, NY, 25 June 1961, with Bill Evans, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass, and Paul Motian, drums. (VICJ-60951-3) boxed set of 3 compact discs in separate jewel-box cases and a 13 pp. program booklet in English and Japanese. Running times: CD 1 (60951) -- afternoon sets 1 and 2 -- 49:29 with nine tracks; CD 2 (60952) --evening sets 1 and 2 -- 64:21 with ten tracks; CD 3 (60953) -- evening set 3 -- 39:31 with seven tracks.

The original 1961 recording was produced by Orrin Keepnews and engineered by David Jones of Riverside Records. This 2002 analog-to-digital re-mastering, utilizing the 20-bit K2 Super Coding System, was accomplished by Tamaki Beck of FLAIR (JVC Aoyama Studios, Tokyo) with tape research by Stuart Kremsky, CD assembly by Joe Tarantino, production coordination by Bill Belmont, and design by Yoko Nakamura (program booklet, verso title page). Musical selections are arranged in chronological order of their performance.

Listeners familiar with every audible nook and cranny of the original Bill Evans Riverside LPs Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz For Debby, which recordings comprised most of the music made that magical Sunday in New York in early summer 1961, were amazed later in the 1970s with the re-issue of these recordings along with previously un-released takes. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, with the advent of the CD, increased sonority and clarity were noticeable. The present compilation continues in this tradition, revealing to the listener the following new information about this seminal recording:

* For the first time we hear an introduction (presumably by producer Orrin Keepnews) of the musicians and the announcement that all is being recorded.

* For the first time, we hear the first take of LaFaro's 'Gloria's Step', the first selection of the first afternoon set, previously un-issued because of the electrical power failure glitch which precluded it from erstwhile releases.

* At the end of the first set we are privileged to listen to Evans' announcement of an intermission followed by discussion of the power failure.

* At the beginning of the second evening set, we hear the musicians discuss the music they are about to perform.

* In addition to the subtlety of Motian's brushwork and LaFaro's strings clacking at times on his instrument's fingerboard, advances in recording technology also amplify the ambient background chatter of the Village Vanguard's loquacious customers and the clinking of glassware reminding us this was but another work day for the Bill Evans Trio.

* Both takes of LaFaro's 'Jade Visions' were performed back to back at the end of the third and final evening set, and of this magnificent recording session.

* At the end of the last set we are permitted to eavesdrop on the wrap-up of this all-day recording session, the first (and what turned out to be the only) "live" recording session of the first Bill Evans trio, with a voice (Orrin Keepnews?) saying to Evans, "Hey, ah, Bill, he's [the recording engineer] got a little tape left. Play something else . . . about 30 seconds . . .", and with Evans responding by playing what to my ear sounds like a ten-second Chaplinesque musical allusion amidst laughter which fades to silence.

Orrin Keepnews, in his The View From Within: Jazz Writings, 1948-1987 (New York, Oxford, 1987), a memoir of his years at Riverside Records working with Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, McCoy Tyner, and others in the recording studio and on "live" sessions, gives us his recollections of this particular recording session at the Village Vanguard:

"Although we [at Riverside Records] were only looking for one album, we felt there would be a better chance of capturing the spontaneous qualities of on-the-job recording in general -- and of this trio in particular -- by being able to make the eventual choice from a larger group of tunes rather than frequently repeating an exact pre-selected repertoire. Thirteen numbers were played in all, five only once, just two as many as three times. Evans was unusually please with the results and -- perhaps also influenced by the realization that this now documented the end of an important stage in his career -- readily agreed to the release of two separate six-tune albums (Sunday at the Village Vanguard, followed by Waltz for Debby). The necessary choices were quite arbitrary; it is clear that nothing played this day was without considerable merit. 'Porgy,' originally omitted for reasons of overall time, was squeezed into an early-70s reissue package, and seven 'rediscovered' alternates filled a mid-1984 album."

Admirers of the Bill Evans Trio will relish listening to this chronological, warts and all, presentation of what Adam Gopnik, in The New Yorker (13 August 2001), called "jazz's perfect afternoon".

 

[longbowbbs]

 

[Byronb]

 

 
YES!!!!

 

[philo50]

   
YES!!!!

+1

 

[TJ Elite]

  That's great! Also, dig your 100 albums list.

Even though the list is obviously by its nature always going to be a work-in-progress, I'm still working on making it a bit "tighter". I feel there are still at least a few albums there that could easily be substituted with even more deserving ones, but I'm still working on figuring out which ones and with what. The most challenging thing is trying to strike a balance between albums that I liked really much say five years ago, but have not heard in at least a couple of years, and albums that I like to death but have only heard for the very first time very recently and might still be benefitting from freshness euphoria. Overall I'm still already quite happy with the list and relieved it didn't take me an eternity to put together like I had dreaded. Compiling it was sort of akin to a New Year's resolution for me, and I'm happy to have it done so I can now make small alterations to it as time goes on and keep working on it.
 

  Thanks for the post on this one. I downloaded it and I'm enjoying it.

That's nice to hear. According to the artist's SoundCloud page he was born in 1996 and has been producing his own music since 2009. So still a quite young producer by any measure. I'm glad to see such a young and still developing artist embracing a more experimental style; the world already has more than enough talented people working on making more straightforward music, I feel.
 

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​

Sea Hive - Lunar Grain​

https://seahive.bandcamp.com/album/lunar-grain​

 

Since listening to this for the first time yesterday, I've heard it probably four or five times during the last 24 hours. This album has definitely immediately become one of my favorites of the ones I've heard from 2013 so far, possibly even my favorite (sorry EXLIUM if that is the case). Little did I suspect I'd be enjoying this album this much when I decided to add it to my Bandcamp wish list

 after semi-randomly stumbling upon it and subsequently purchasing 

because it sounded like something that might be interesting. If this albums was ever to see a CD release, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[jasonb]

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[palmfish]

 

[jimr101]

Tedereshi trucks live 08 30 12 at Red Rock amphitheater Morrison Co. On a AXS VIDEO on youtube in hd. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. It was the next best thing to being there.

 

[Byronb]

 

[wuwhere]

Freddie's Dead, live cover by The Derek Trucks Band
 

 

[HeavenNotes]

Body and Soul, Chris Potter

 

[Destroysall]

 

Sea Hive - Lunar Grain​

https://seahive.bandcamp.com/album/lunar-grain​

 

Since listening to this for the first time yesterday, I've heard it probably four or five times during the last 24 hours. This album has definitely immediately become one of my favorites of the ones I've heard from 2013 so far, possibly even my favorite (sorry EXLIUM if that is the case). Little did I suspect I'd be enjoying this album this much when I decided to add it to my Bandcamp wish list

 after semi-randomly stumbling upon it and subsequently purchasing 

because it sounded like something that might be interesting. If this albums was ever to see a CD release, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

This is so good! It definitely is a bit different from other albums I've heard. I'll need to add more time to listen to it more as the song I've only heard is Lunar Grain, but it is riveting nonetheless.

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Speaking of ambient experimental music, I'm currently revisiting Syntestezja by Burma Project, and I find this album very haunting yet exciting to listen to. Definitely worth a consideration, IMO.
 

Burma Project - Syntestezja
http://etalabel.bandcamp.com/album/syntestezja

 

[markm1]

 
 
Boards of Canada-Tomorrow's Havest 2013 After discussing this album, I listened to it again in my car on a long drive. I've changed my mind. It's quite good-excellent night time driving. Moody, making me think of futuristic urban landscapes...a Blade Runner vibe.
 

 
Oranssi Pazuzu-Valonielu 2013 experimental Black Metal-psychedelic, space rock and BM-really interesting mix 
 

 
Kurt Vile-Wakin on a Pretty Daze 2013-Relatively young American guitarist and singer songwriter-beautiful, intimate work...very chill-fantastic album