Bill Evans Trio* Featuring Scott La Faro* – Sunday At The Village Vanguard

A delicate and refined improviser with an inviolable melodic sense, Bill Evans is one of the most serious of Jazzmen, requiring close study. His trio here, ably abetted by Scott La Faro & Paul Motian, produce circumspect interplay of the highest level. The ambiance of the small club setting gives this album the edge over "Portrait In Jazz" for me. Though some, if not most, would disagree with that assumption.

One of my "Desert Island Discs", I find this recording indispensable. It can be appropriately played, with the proper crowd, at a party. It can be on while doing household chores. I've often enjoyed it at night while driving on long road trips. But my favorite way to listen to this recording, as well as its companion "Waltz for Debby", is earnestly. Here the level of musicianship is simply staggering and even after years of listening to it in intently I still find it to be a beacon of what the very best can be, on a good night, when everything falls into place. Evans, LaFaro and Motian seem to be so connected as to be of one mind; as if they know where the others want to go, and the playing seem emanate from them effortlessly. The performance captured on this recording is contemplative, meditative, almost ethereal in its perfection. It is highly improvisational but not self-indulgent. Most of all, it is beautiful in its balance and its poise.