features in: Album Chart of 1961 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die  |
The album was recorded during a gig-a-thon on June 25, 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City which saw the trio play 2 daytime sessions and 3 in the evening. The marathon men were: Bill Evans (Piano), Scott LaFaro (Bass) and Paul Motian (Drums). Tragically, LaFaro was killed in a car accident ten days after the recording and his name was subsequently elevated to billing status in time for the album’s release 4 months later. This seems doubly fair enough since he wrote 2 of the pieces and there were actually no Bill Evans compositions on board. The LP is revered as one of the finest jazz albums of all-time, with critics universally acknowledging the relaxed beauty and the uncanny synergy that exists between all players, most notably between Evans and LaFaro. Whatever. Excepting the album’s closer, there’s a bloke going tinkle-plinkle on the ebony and ivories and another giving it the big bandy-bendy on the upright. They play tunes written by George Gershwin and Cole Porter. The drummer deserves a medal for hanging in there. The ordeal lasts 38 minutes and is broken only by La Faro’s moody blue finale, “Jade Visions”, a thrown lifeline which arrives far too late.
The Jukebox Rebel
07–Nov–2015
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [06:09]  Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - Gloria’s Step (Take 2) [live ny ’61] (Scott LaFaro) Jazz |
| A2 | [06:21]  Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - My Man’s Gone Now [live ny ’61] (George Gershwin) Jazz |
| A3 | [08:52]  Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - Solar [live ny ’61] (Miles Davis) Jazz |
| B1 | [08:34]  Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - Alice In Wonderland (Take 2) [live ny ’61] (Sammy Fain) Jazz |
| B2 | [08:17] Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - All Of You (Take 2) [live ny ’61] (Cole Porter) Jazz |
| B3 | [03:44]  Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott La Faro - Jade Visions (Take 2) [live ny ’61] (Scott LaFaro) Jazz |
