Bill Evans Trio Trio

Bill Evans refused producer Orrin Keepnews' invitation to record a follow up album to his 1956 debut "New Jazz Conceptions" for over two years, stating that he had nothing new to say. He joined the Miles Davis quintet, participating in "Kind Of Blue", and took his time to plan his re-emergence as a leader in his own right. "Everyone Digs Bill Evans" marked that return in 1958 but it was "Portrait In Jazz", released a year later, that claimed his place at the forefront of jazz.

Bill Evans Trio - Consecration, The Last Complete Collection (1980) {8CD Set Alfa Japan OOR2-61~68 rel 1989}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.10 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.00 Gb
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© 1980, 1989 Alfa Records Japan | OOR2-61~68
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

I had assumed that these recordings fit into the category of “he plays well under the circumstances.” Forget the qualifiers. Listening to this set and the previously released The Last Waltz is a bit like sharing the experience of the wild-eyed poet who has returned from feasting on the milk of paradise in Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan.” After tasting such nectar, nothing henceforward can satisfy the palette. So if the two sets (16 discs) comprising Evans’ last stand seem extravagant in quantity and price, consider the possibility that they represent the musical equivalent of Keats’ Grecian Urn, offering “all ye know and need to know.”

Jazz pianist Bill Evans began a quiet revolution in the early 1960s. Before Evans, jazz piano trios spotlighted the pianist while the others essentially accompanied him or her. Evans envisioned a trio where all three musicians were on an equal footing, where they'd truly interact. "Sunday at the Village Vanguard", recorded live in 1961, captures the original Bill Evans Trio at its peak. Drummer Paul Motian plays with grace, subtlety, and restraint that are equal to Evans's, and bassist Scott LaFaro (who also played with Ornette Coleman) has a rapport with the others that seems telepathic. Evans absorbed the bebop approach to the keys but also took inspiration from the suave pianism of Nat "King" Cole and 20th-century classical Impressionism. "Sunday" is piano trio jazz that's executed so beautifully one might not notice how complex it really is.