Few jazz recordings are attended by the kind of mystique that surrounds the Bill Evans Trio’s legendary Sunday at the Village Vanguard, the last recording Evans made with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Evans and LaFaro had a sometimes fraught personal relationship, but this live recording finds them communicating on a level that other musicians dream about and rarely attain. The tunes themselves—“Gloria’s Step,” “Detour Ahead,” the iconic “Waltz for Debby”—are sumptuously beautiful and delivered with heart-stopping tenderness and grace. This three-disc box set expands the original release to include every note of all five sets played during the 1961 date, 10 days before LaFaro was killed in a car accident. Essential.
Bill Evans
