Bill Evans Trio – Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Riverside, 1961
A culmination of the equal-footed jazz trio helmed by Evans years before, Sunday At The Village Vangaurd directly challenged the role of a jazz bandleader – before the working group was torn asunder by an unexpected death.
As an unconventional aesthete and harmonic renegade, Evans precariously walked the tightrope between swinging jazz and classical music. Classically trained by nature, he eventually became drawn towards jazz and George Russell’s harmonic work, injecting solos and melodic ideas with a shot of Ravel or Debussy.
Over time, the tension of being a white pianist in a black band pushed Evans into the subliminal, deeply charged internalised expression; less swing, more introspection.
In the liner notes for the trio’s debut album Portrait In Jazz (1960), he writes:
“I’m hoping the trio will grow in the direction of simultaneous improvisation rather than just one guy blowing followed by another guy blowing. If the bass player, for example, hears an idea that he wants to answer, why should he just keep playing a background?”
As the Bill Evans Trio’s playing grew more subliminal, elegant, emotionally telepathic and extra-sensory, the working group’s development culminated in the two sessions recorded in 1961 – Waltz for Debby, and Sunday at the Village Vanguard.
The album’s almost mythic status can be attributed to its unassuming nature. On quieter parts, one hears the rumble of the New York City Subway above, reminding us of The Village Vanguard’s subterranean performance space. Cutleries clatter, glasses clink and patrons chat – it was just another dinner service on 25 June 1961. No one knew it would become the giant of jazz trio records, the template for a sound little have managed to replicate, let alone mimic. Had people known what it would become, there might have been less coughs, less conversation and more listening.
It’s hard to overstate why Sunday has become the template for trio jazz records, and live jazz in general; the selections are stunning, Riverside’s recording in the basement of the Village Vanguard achieves such realism, and the interplay between all members is miraculous at worst, phenomenal at best; something that hasn’t been matched, and probably will never be.
At the height of their powers, the trio seemed destined for even greater heights; unfortunately, just ten days after their groundbreaking set at The Village Vanguard, Scott LaFaro met with a highway accident. He did not survive. The loss of a young man in the very midst of the process of realizing what were generally recognized as really major potentials on his instrument, is all the more tragic.
Riverside boss Orrin Keepnews compiled Sunday at the Village Vanguard, featuring the late LaFaro as the prime force behind the trio – selections often showcase LaFaro’s stunning bass work – solos that jazz students have transcribed and practiced for decades, hoping to but not even coming close to his technique. LaFaro’s composition “Jade Visions” is a hauntingly beautiful closer – not just to Sunday, but to a life tragically cut short.
To say that LaFaro’s death devastated Evans is an understatement; how does one carry on knowing that they may never once again reach the same level of interplay they once had with their counterparts? In the original liner notes of the release, Orrin Keepnews writes:
I had asked Bill to write a few words about Scott and their association to be printed in this space. He tried, but not too surprisingly found that he simply could not.
It would only be years later when Evans would finally be able to write those few words he couldn’t back in 1961.
Bill Evans:
“I am thankful that we recorded that day, because it was the last time I saw Scott and the last time we would play together. When you have evolved a concept of playing which depends on the specific personalities of outstanding players, how do you start again when they are gone?”
All selections recorded at The Village Vanguard, New York City, on 25 June 1961.
- Gloria’s Step – take 2
- My Man’s Gone Now – single take
- Solar – single take
- Alice In Wonderland – take 2
- All Of You – take 2
- Jade Visions – take 2
