30. Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard

Artist: Bill Evans
Album: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Year: 1961

Bill Evans was the pianist on Miles Davis' masterpiece Kind of Blue, and soon after, went off and formed his own jazz trio and made this album, a live performance from the Village Vanguard in NYC. The band consisted of Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums.

Of course I love Kind of Blue, so I was excited to see what Evans would do once he struck out on his own. In fact, I was kind of surprised I'd never heard this album before. I really liked it, but not without some major reservations.

First, the good. The live setting, with audible voices and clinking of glasses and/or dishes in the background, really helps to set the scene and make you feel like you're there. It's an intimate experience. The performers on this album are excellent at playing off each other. The drummer, in particular, does a nice job of framing the other two and propelling the album forward on the more upbeat numbers and cooling it down on the softer ones. Lastly, this album has that sense of unpredictability that I enjoy in jazz. Many of the tracks are second or even third takes on other tracks on this very album, and it's cool to see how many different directions the songs can be pulled in. In many ways it's sort of a younger sibling of Kind of Blue. I especially liked "Gloria's Step (Take 3)" and "Alice in Wonderland (Take 2)"

Now, the negative. You gotta love the bass to really dig this album. I don't. I like it as a backing instrument, to thump along in the background keeping the pulse. Here, it's one of three instruments and hence gets extended solo time in every cut. I don't doubt that this performance by Scott LaFaro (who would unfortunately die in an automobile accident 10 days after this recording was made) is considered among bass hounds to be truly excellent. I just don't care for the timbre of the instrument. So, that detracted from my enjoyment of the album in a major way.

So there it is, an otherwise great album sullied by the omnipresent bass. In my opinion, of course. If I liked the bass, this would be just about perfect.

Rating: Worth a listen