Search - Bill Evans :: Complete Village Vanguard Live 1961

Jazz's Perfect Afternoon

Charles A. Ralston | MABLETON, GA USA | 05/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""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."

Answer to Sean's questions and comments

Toshio Fukuhara | Yokohama, Japan | 03/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1. Sound Quality

Yes, this boxed set presents MUCH better sound quality than previously released K-2 coded Sunday at Village Vanguard ("SVV") and Waltz for Debby ("WFD") CDs. It is my guess but this is because;

a) This boxed set is produced from the original tapes that were actually used to record sessions at Village Vanguard, not from the master tapes compiled and edited for SVV and WFD. These master tapes are one generation after the original tapes.

b) Those original tapes are in much better shape (perhaps used once for Complete Riverside Recording after the release of SVV and WFD and only partially for later CD issues which added several out-takes from LPs) than those master tapes that were used over and over for a series of past releases of the same materials.



2. Japanese language liner notes

You are not missing anything. The Japanese liner notes are written by a Japanese jazz critic who basically wrote nothing new and prejudiced comments, such as repeatedly referring to an alleged fact that Bill Evans was Jewish (Did anybody know this? I know his ancestors came from Russia) which this critic claims as having influenced his music. Japanese reviewers in AMAZON's Japan site complained about this poorly written review.



3. Price

In Japan, it's about US$50 equivalent of Japanese yen under the current exchange rate. By US standards, I know $80 is a lot. But consider how much money you spend on CDs, only to get disappointed for the most part, this boxed set is worth every penny for serious Bill Evans fans. After all, this is nothing but the dream come true and the whole material presented here more than justifies the extra dollars for being able to capture the perfect afternoon of jazz that the loquacious Village Vanguard audience did not necessary appreciate then but we do now.



4. My own impression

Listening to those familiar tunes in original order presents quite a different impression from SVV and WD. Feels less tense, less contained, even freer, for the lack of better term. Toward the end of Disc 3, you hear Scott LaFaro spontaneously starts playing JADE VISION for the second time, as if he knew by instinct that his days were already numbered and that he did not want to end the performance that soon. A real haunting experience, indeed.

"

GREATEST PIANO JAZZ RECORDING EVER!

jazz fan | georgia usa | 08/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a must buy, however, it will be issued in the United States through Universal on September 13, 2005 for far less than this. 3RCD-4443-2 is the catalog number. Enjoy!"