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98 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jazz's Perfect Afternoon Redux, September 25, 2005
The following is my May 2004 review of the 2002 Japanese IMPORT edition of this seminal recording, and my views (and review) of it remain.
"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.
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy This One! It supersedes all the other releases., February 15, 2006
Chuck Ralston has already provided an extensive and very helpful review of this release. His website dedicated to Scott LaFaro is worth the attention of all jazz fans.
This day of recordings at the Village Vanguard produced two magical albums, _Sunday at the Village Vanguard_ and _Waltz for Debby_. Later reissues on compact disc included alternative takes. This release, previously only available overseas, supersedes all the others. As Ralston notes, it is the first to include the opening number of the day, LaFaro's composition "Gloria's Step," which was briefly interrupted by a power failure. It also contains the first take of "All of You," previously available on Bill Evans' _Complete Riverside Recordings_, a compilation that's probably beyond most fans' budgets. As an example of the trio's high level of performance that day, it's hard to pick from the three takes of "All of You." This first take, for example, contains drummer Paul Motian's best solo spotlight of the day.
The _Complete Village Vanguard_ allows the listener to follow this great trio over the course of the entire day. It's a priceless experience. One of the sublime moments is the performance of "Porgy," a perfect example of musicians really listening to each other. Once that performance, infamously interrupted by audience chatter and laughter, concludes, LaFaro asks Evans, "What's up?" Evans answers, "My Romance," and then they proceed to discuss how the number will be played. Today listeners hear a performance like "Porgy" and are filled with amazement. On that day the musicians simply moved on to play the next piece.
A final example of why this recording is the one to buy is the trio's final performance of the day, LaFaro's forward-looking composition, "Jade Visions." The listener learns things that previous releases omitted. First, after the third performance of "All of You," someone, perhaps producer Orrin Keepnews or the recording engineer, shouts "do it again!" Evans instead asks LaFaro if he wants to "try that 9/8 tune," meaning "Jade Visions." Considering that "Jade Visions," a piece the trio had not yet played that day, was the last composition they performed together, it's a wonderful example of serendipity. Second, a listener learns that on _Sunday at the Village Vanguard_, the producer inserted audience applause at the conclusion of "Jade Visions." As is true of most jazz club dates, the audience had dwindled by the time the musicians played their last set. The second take of "Jade Visions" ends, not with substantial audience applause, but with LaFaro's bass, followed by a moment of silence before Evans is informed that there's about half a minute of tape left, whereupon he proceeds to play an amusing "few final bars." For music fans, this recording is of the highest historical importance. On that day, however, the Bill Evans Trio was just playing another club date before a small, sometimes engaged, but too often distracted audience.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The mind reels...., December 14, 2005
This much genius in one collection, for this price? Have they lost their minds? Bill Evans pretty much wrote the book on luminous,lyrical jazz piano-playing... and this is an elegant document of his incomparable trio's '61 stand at the Vanguard. Very comprehensive - it even includes lengthy segments of stage patter. A lot of the stuff here has been previously released, but it has never sounded this crystalline and pure...all around great job and a real steal!
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