Bill Evans: Waltz For Debby

In a very unscientific survey, 9 out of 10 jazz connoisseurs listed Waltz For Debby by the Bill Evans Trio as one of their desert island picks. For more than sixty years it has been a best seller and this reissue, like its companion release Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Craft Recordings, 2023), is part of a newly relaunched Original Jazz Classic series. From the original tapes, both are all-analog masters by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

At the time of this recording, June 25, 1961, Evans' stock was rising, although the global superstar he would become came later. He had briefly (less than one year) served as the pianist for Miles Davis, taking over from Red Garland at the piano for Davis' Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) session with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Producer Orrin Keepnews had already recorded Evans' trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian in studio on Portrait In Jazz (Riverside, 1960) and Explorations (Riverside, 1961). This live date was made at the end of a two week engagement at the famous Village Vanguard. Recorded on a Sunday, where typically the venue scheduled two matinees in addition to their evening program, the multiple performances gave Evans and Keepnews plenty of material with which to work.

The six tracks heard here, taken from different sets recorded that afternoon and evening, catch a kind of lightning in a bottle. Let's not call Evans' choice of personnel sidemen, because LaFaro and Motian's contributions to the music were much more than accompaniment for the pianist. The drummer's accents are always spot on impeccable and LaFaro's reinvention of the role of double bass in a piano trio is still the yardstick by which most bassists are judged to this day. His bass sounds more like a piano or guitar at times. The trio's version of Victor Young's "My Foolish Heart" (lyrics by Ned Washington) might be the definitive version, with Evans slowing the tempo to flesh out the romanticism of the composition. The same applies to "Detour Ahead," made famous by Billie Holiday and Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time." Here the melody is 'sung' alternatively by both Evans and LaFaro. The energy surge of Miles Davis' "Milestones" is fueled by Motian's efficient cymbal work which allows LaFaro to dance above the melody. As for the title track, it was previously recorded solo by Evans as a bare bones 78 seconds on New Conceptions (Riverside, 1957). In the future, he would include his composition (by requests) in most of his live dates. This performance at the Village Vanguard is the definitive version, sadly, because LaFaro was killed in an automobile accident just 10 days after this recording. The trio delivers this irrepressible cover, where the clinking of the patron's glasses and chatter doesn't distract, but adds to the vibrant energy of the music.

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