That passage in Pettinger's book always puzzled me. How could a sober fan do something like that at Carnegie Hall? After listening to the Bill Evans Trio's set—now available for the first time as a download at Wolfgang's Vault, a site that specializes in unreleased concert recordings—I understand why. Evans made it virtually impossible for Bennett or anyone else to win back the audience.
Evans' trio at the time featured bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund, who joined the trio after Marty Morell's departure in February 1975. Introduced by Bennett, the Bill Evans Trio launched into six songs—Sugar Plum, Up With the Lark, Twelve Tone Tune, Someday My Price Will Come, Minha and In Your Own Sweet Way. All are sterling renditions.
For example, Twelve Tone Tune here may be one of his finest ever—diving into the complex original with the excited abandon of a bower who can't seem to roll anything but strikes. Evans' chord voicings are spectacular and his passing-gear energy level surges, pushing his sidemen to keep up.
The ballad Minha is thoughtful and passionate, and Evans avoided the mistake he typically made on songs like this—thrashing about like a motorist trying to bang his way out of a parking space by slamming the vehicles in front and back. Here, his rendition is reaching and sobbing rather than shrieking or bullying.
Dave Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way is last, and like all the others it features an opener so beautiful and dramatic it will break your heart.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Bill Evans Trio: Newport Jazz Festival, June 25, 1976קst Set at Wolfgang's Vault
Leave yourself time, though. Once you start nosing around Wolfgang's Vault, you'll find dozens of recordings you will want to sample and download.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.
