Bill Evans and The Trio That Changed Trios
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Speaker 2
Hey, Peter.
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Speaker 3
What's up?
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Speaker 2
You know, we're celebrating the six year anniversary. The Adam man is true.
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Speaker 1
I didn't know that. I meant to tell you. Congrats, bro.
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Speaker 2
Thank you. You have a trio, too?
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Speaker 1
Yeah, I do.
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Speaker 2
How long y'all been together?
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Speaker 1
I was, like, 11, 12 years, you know? Not that long.
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Speaker 2
It's a long time.
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Speaker 1
Oh. It is.
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Speaker 2
You know, the trio with Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian? Yeah, they were together for you. Ready for this?
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Speaker 1
I love that trio, by the way. But. Yes. How long?
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Speaker 2
18 months.
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Speaker 3
What?
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Speaker 1
Were you serious?
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Speaker 2
I'm serious.
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Speaker 1
All that great music, all that. All those great records. Okay, I got to hear about this.
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Speaker 2
I'm Adam, and I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the you'll hear it podcast, music explored. Explored, brought to you today by Open Studio. Go to open studio jazz.com for us o your jazz lesson need say Peter sheepish sheepishly.
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Speaker 1
I'm going double stroke.
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Speaker 2
Double stroke. Roll which fingers I.
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Speaker 1
Don't want to brag, but that's.
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Speaker 2
Braggadocious of you.
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Speaker 1
The sheet has been put in front of me. I'm excited because it says Bill at the top.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, this is all about Bill.
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Speaker 1
Is this.
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Speaker 2
Bill Levin's l e vino? Bill Evans, of course. Today we're talking about the Bill Evans trio. We're specifically talking about the game changing trio.
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Speaker 1
I thought you about to say we're spitting rhymes about this.
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Speaker 3
We could do that, too.
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Speaker 2
We're gonna try to do that. We can. We had put a little beat behind that. An artist just now.
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Speaker 1
Come on.
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Speaker 2
Now we're talking about the trio with Bill Evans, Scott Alfaro and Paul Motian. They were together from 1959, late 1959 to early 1961. They recorded four albums together,
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Speaker 2
and they were, I don't know, in not 18 months. They were one of the most influential full jazz trios in the history of the music. Yeah. And it was cut short when bassist Scott LaFaro was killed in a car accident,
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Speaker 2
when he was just 25 years old.
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Speaker 2
Yeah. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the four albums that really put this trio in sort of this legendary status,
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Speaker 2
Portrait and Jazz Explorations Sunday at the Village Vanguard. And it's for Debbie. And we're going to lead up to that Sunday at the Village Vanguard and waltz for Debbie, because both of those albums were recorded on June 25th, 1961 at the Village Vanguard.
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Speaker 2
That's a Sunday. So two of the most influent jazz trio albums. Yeah, Sunday the Village Vanguard Waltz for Debby, recorded on the same day, and ten days later, Scott LaFaro would die in a car accident. It's it's just this unbelievable circumstance. Apparently, it was even just like, you know, he died. It was a nice morning. There was no weather.
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Speaker 2
He's driving by himself and,
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Speaker 2
it's just a real tragedy. You know, it's a common story in jazz. We've lost a lot of folks. Yeah, very young, much too early in their careers. And I think this is one of them. So we'll talk a bit a little bit about, you know, the, the legacy of this trio and how Scott, the father's death affected,
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Speaker 2
both Bill and Paul.
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Speaker 2
But I thought that we could,
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Speaker 2
just kind of set it up by talking about each one of these great players history. And we'll start with Scott LaFaro. He was, the youngest member of the group. He's born in 1936, in Newark, but grew up in Geneva, New York and upstate New York. He was a part of a musical family.
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Speaker 2
His father was a musician. He was a child prodigy. Before he played with Bill, he played with people like Chet Baker, Stan Kenton. He at the same time was playing with Ornette Coleman. And he was this prodigious talent.
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Speaker 1
Yeah. He was he a prodigy? I mean, was he was.
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Speaker 2
A musical prodigy. Yeah. And on the bass specifically. And we're going to hear, hear we're going to hear, hear that he was doing things that no other people.
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Speaker 3
Had.
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Speaker 2
Done before or since. I mean, truly an incredible talent on the bass. And so,
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Speaker 2
here's a little the recording of Scott, the file with Victor Feldman. This plays back into our Asia. Yeah. Episode Steely Dan Station, that Victor Feldman was all over.
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Speaker 2
This is an album with Victor Feldman playing piano and vibes and things. And this is Scott the farmer on bass.
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Speaker 2
This is. There is no greater love.
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Unknown
For.
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Unknown
Him.
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Unknown
Who?
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Speaker 2
Huge sound. Yeah, big bass sound. The most important thing that you can have. But also prodigious soloists who I know you.
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Speaker 1
Ever heard around my young man?
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Speaker 2
You don't hear that a lot in Bill trio, right? That kind of. Victor fella sounds great, too. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
So this is a very young, like, 22 year old Scott by far. Yeah.
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Speaker 3
Let's get right.
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Speaker 1
What yours is.
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Speaker 2
I think 5756. But.
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Speaker 2
Why not move to the vibes? You can do all of it. Yeah. So there we've got a young musician just coming into his prime. Denver. Paul Motian was born in 1931, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent some time in the Navy, and then when he got out, he started playing with people like Lennie Tristano, Felonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins.
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Speaker 2
He was really made a name for himself on the New York scene,
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Speaker 2
when he was a young man fresh out of the military. Here's a little bit of Paul Motian pre Bill Evans trio on an album by another vibes player, Eddie Costa. And this is a Bill Evans is on this album as well playing piano. So this is probably where these guys became buddies.
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Speaker 2
This is if I Were a Bell.
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Speaker 1
That work. Got to play it on the vibes. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
It's Paul Motian on the drums, bill Evans on the piano version.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, master. Yeah. As we later hear, in a lot of the Bill Evans material.
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Speaker 3
Oh, Eddie. Yeah.
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Speaker 3
Look, little hints of a little bit of.
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Speaker 1
Cool West Coast jazz, but. Got that swing. Got that flavor.
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Speaker 2
Paul Motian has a swagger to, too. He really.
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Speaker 3
Does. So that's what.
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Speaker 2
The two members of the Bill Evans trio were doing, sort of in the lead up. Now, Bill Evans himself is kind of an interesting character. You know, like he grew up playing piano. He said he tried violin. He ended up playing in the Army in the early 50s. He played flute in the Army band and a little bit of piano, and he met some musicians in that band that would be pretty influential.
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Speaker 2
And he he left the Army. He went to the
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Speaker 2
Manoa School of Music in New York City.
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Speaker 1
Then he also go to school, at least briefly, in South Louis.
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Speaker 2
He did go to South Louisiana first. Yeah, but there was.
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Speaker 1
A little bit.
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Speaker 2
Before you graduate school. That's right. Yeah. And was really like, you know, studying composition and things like that. He got on the New York scene. He started playing like society gigs and then started to hook up with folks,
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Speaker 2
like George Russell and started to kind of really push some impressionistic influences. Yeah, right. Some of these French composers, Debussy and Ravel, right in his music and some of the jazz that was being played in New York in that in the mid 50s.
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Speaker 2
And it caught the ear of Miles Davis. And just before he formed the Bill Evans Trio with Scott and Paul in 1959, he had made this little album. Ever hear of it with Miles Davis? This is blue and Green from Kind of Blue.
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Speaker 1
Is this better than Colby or.
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Speaker 2
This is Colby? Equal. But it's funny to think this was very early in Bill's career. He was a young guy, and he was only in Mallesons Miles, his band, for nine months, but he wasn't in his band when they made this album. Miles brought him back because he wanted to have this sound for this album.
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Unknown
He did it. It.
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Speaker 2
So again, this is from one of the most popular jazz albums, one of the greatest journalism of all time. Kind of blue. It is. It's impressionistic. There's yeah there's less chords happening. It's more about this color palette that Myles and Bill Evans created together. Yeah. And as we'll see this made Bill Evans a star. And he will keep pulling from the kind of blue.
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Speaker 1
Well yeah.
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Speaker 2
Again and again in his career. Yeah. But it's just kind of a setup to where everybody was.
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Speaker 1
And then there's a little bit you mentioned George Russell. There was I don't know if they were calling it Third Stream already then that's.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, there's some of that. Right.
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Speaker 1
And really early fusion in terms of classical and jazz especially with the impressionistic stuff.
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Speaker 2
So these guys hooked up in 1959, the three of them. And there was pretty immediate chemistry. And, you know, we talk about influential and what what makes them influential to people. And it's really the conversational style that they didn't invent, but they in a lot of ways pushed forward, especially with the popularity that Bill Evans was writing after Kind of Blue, he had made a name for himself.
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Speaker 2
People were paying attention to what he was doing. Yeah. And with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, he found a couple of compatriots in his sort of conversational style that he wanted to play.
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Speaker 1
Kindred spirits.
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Speaker 2
Kindred spirits. And they made their first studio album,
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Speaker 2
Portrait in Jazz, in 1959. It got released in December 1959. I just broke my pen. I literally just snapped it right off.
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Speaker 1
Bill Evans makes all pianists nervous. His skill level is still high. All right, I've got this coffee here, just in case I have to crunch it up or something, you know?
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Speaker 2
So this is Autumn leaves, and this is,
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Speaker 2
take one from Portrait in Jazz. Thank you, thank you. Take one. This is take one.
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Speaker 1
But it's good.
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Speaker 2
This is the first album that these two made together.
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Speaker 2
Oh.
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Speaker 2
So you can hear Scott LaFaro. It's not just holding down a bass line. He's commenting on the music that's happening.
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Speaker 1
He's participatory from the beginning, right up to the right. The mama, he's just like he's in it musically.
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Speaker 2
Oftentimes the first soloist would be the bass. Yes. In this trio he might have been the best soloist in the, in the trio. I don't think that's controversial. I mean he's probably a more of a prodigy on his instrument than Bill was on his. I'm serious. Yeah. You know, much like I was like in the atmosphere, I like to throw out the bug book one day.
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Speaker 2
I like to let the best solos start.
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Speaker 2
Paul Motian, there is conversation. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
So, I mean, this is a statement. Yeah. You know what I mean?
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Speaker 1
That's, you know, I remember who I remember when I first got this CD. This was the first Bill Evans CE portrait in jazz like that I got. I'd heard Bill Evans,
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Speaker 1
mostly on Miles stuff, although I'd heard live the Village Vanguard for sure.
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Speaker 1
And I think I'd heard Waltz for Debbie, the live stuff. But I remember when I got this, like I was not ready, and this was the first record I listened to.
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Speaker 1
Like, this takes me totally back to it. I was like, this was I was just like the bass soloing first and so much conversation. And I kind of, I think I kind of knew Autumn Lee's at that time. I was so intimidated by this. I literally had to put it to the side and be like, I'm going to come back with some.
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Speaker 2
High level shit. Yeah, there's a lot happening there. It rewards deep listening. Yeah, for sure. But it also because of the sort of like general pathos that also musicians are so great at exhibiting. It can be a vibe as well. Yeah, it can be a rainy day sweat. Put on your cardigan as I demonstrated here.
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Speaker 1
You know, cardigan, cardigan.
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Speaker 2
Put on your Bill Evans nerd glasses and just enjoy yourself like it is really just.
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Speaker 1
The park.
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Speaker 2
Today. So I know I actually did dress knowing that we would be doing some Bill Evans today.
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Speaker 1
But bed like, can we just talk real quick about the sound on there I guess prestige, right.
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Speaker 2
Oh, do all of them.
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Speaker 1
Yeah man that's a.
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Speaker 3
Good that's sound.
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Speaker 1
And the the.
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Speaker 2
Brushes. Yeah, yeah I know that so late in the album Winkle. Late in the album.
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Speaker 2
Oh yeah. They played this. Sound familiar? This is, of course, blue and green again.
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Speaker 1
Yeah, I did use that chord in our.
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Speaker 2
Maybe we should play some blue and green on the way out today. So stay tuned. We'll play a little blue and green at the end. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
So this would be a common theme. Bill would often play things as we'll hear that are very reminiscent, if not directly from Kind of Blue. Yeah. His most famous album that he made with Miles Davis beautiful recording.
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Speaker 1
Smart move commercially smart move.
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Speaker 2
So that's 1959, 1959 portrait and jazz. It's a beautiful.
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Speaker 1
Song written by Bill Evans or Miles Davis.
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Speaker 2
It says Miles Davis. There are many stories about it. It was probably a collaboration. I think we're being generous. Yeah.
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Speaker 2
The next album they make a lot of people consider to be the second one of the four here to be definitely their best studio one. It's probably better than Portrait in Jazz, and it might be the best trio recording of the 60s, even though it's released right in 1961.
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Speaker 2
It's unbelievable. It's called explorations. Every tune is a banger. It starts with this. Yeah. Oh, Israel.
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Speaker 2
This one is one of the songs that made me fall in love with jazz. When I was.
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Speaker 3
A young kid.
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Speaker 2
A minor blues.
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Speaker 1
Man. It's,
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Speaker 1
Dynamics. Arrangement.
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Speaker 3
Vibes, swing.
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Speaker 2
Listen to what Scott and Paul do here.
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Speaker 2
For.
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Speaker 2
I just remember being a young musician, being like, what is happening? Yeah. Dotted quarter.
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Speaker 3
No.
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Speaker 1
I mean, unless I'm getting my days off. Was very influential to Tony. Was Ron Carson were they way they would phrase 6263. They had of heard this or maybe they heard the same thing.
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Speaker 2
So popular record for jazz artist. Yeah. All four of these actually were just these. Oh yeah. One of the reasons why they're influential is people were listening to these this.
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Speaker 1
Track actually, I think this record better, like if you were to say the classic trio, we could talk about whether or not this is the bill out of the classic trio or not. But this track probably if you had to play one.
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Speaker 2
This this is the one I know. Yeah. We're going to save this later. I want to skip ahead a little bit to the trading between, after the bass solo here. There's some trading between Bill Evans and Paul Motian that I want to highlight.
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Speaker 2
Paul Motian swagger, then.
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Speaker 1
Yeah.
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Speaker 2
Swagger. All star. Yeah.
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Unknown
Man is tuning all the time.
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Speaker 2
I know the sound is unbelievable. The brush playing is very high level. That's Israel. That's the opening track off of explorations. Another track, the opener that we did,
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Speaker 2
in our in our open notice.
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Speaker 2
Again, you know, Bill's voicings are what people talk about. Yeah, the most probably were. Yeah. And there's there is a thing going on. There is a thing happening in the voicings. Yeah. It's like these rich colors that he's pulling out with the influences of all of those French impressionist composers. You can hear the 13th, the 11th being brought out of these chords.
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Speaker 2
And it it matters, man. It it creates a sense of, of, that mid-century warmth. Yes. That will always be indicative of this time period in this trio specifically.
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Speaker 3
Yeah.
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Speaker 1
But his voice like, oh, here, the voice leading. I mean, as great as the voicings are, it's like his voice leading. And for those of you that aren't musicians, don't worry, we're not nerds here. Yes, we are, but but I mean, the voice thing, it's just like, if you think about it, I like to think about, like, vertical versus horizontal, like it's like with architecture, if you walk into a room and say, wow, this feels so good and you're only looking from the ceiling down, that's good.
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Speaker 1
The that's the voicing, right? Like that's the one chord. The voice leading is like moving from room to room. How do you get from one voicing to the next that connection. And it's the fact that if you were to isolate any of this, like being like any of those voices, yeah, they're going to sound great. But then it's a little bit like, wait, I can play that voicing.
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Speaker 1
How come I don't sound like Bill feels where he's voicing? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's that beautiful,
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Speaker 1
you know, moving through the music as a chordal instrument that not only pianists like as guitarists, I mean, if they must, but I mean, it's it's a brilliant thing you had,
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Speaker 1
and I just want to say Paul Motian super influential.
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Speaker 1
You start to hear all this as we revisit personally influential to me. I don't think you know about this, but, Paul Motian, when I was first out on the jazz scene in the early 90s, I'm a little older than you, son. Do tell. Come on son.
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Speaker 3
Oh, what up son? Talk more about that.
00:21:09:19 - 00:21:12:21
Speaker 1
Used to be so cool. You know, I remember being on the road,
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Speaker 1
and Paul Motian was traveling with his own trio and quartet. He had some great groups in the early 90s, and he was the first the only jazz musician that I know that I knew that carried one small bag and some symbols. Oh, that was it.
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Speaker 1
No check. It's a pro. I used to have a.
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Speaker 2
Legend move, right? Yes.
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Speaker 1
No, but nobody was doing it back then because there was no, like, baggage charges or whatever. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't as much of a thing. And so he had one little roller bag. So I've adopted that. I'm known in the jazz community as Mr. Carry On. Yeah, that's my name.
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Speaker 2
We can't listen. We're going places. We don't have instruments with us.
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Speaker 1
That's right.
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Speaker 2
We don't need more than that.
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Speaker 1
Now. It's not that unique. But back then, it was a thing. And thank you, Paul Motian like that opened up a world of freedom to me and travel for many years.
00:21:55:20 - 00:22:07:08
Speaker 2
So explorations. And we'll have a playlist of all of our selections here, but I just encourage you to check out these four albums, Portrait and Jazz Explorations. And then in June, specifically,
00:22:07:08 - 00:22:10:01
Speaker 2
June 25th, 1961,
00:22:10:01 - 00:22:20:18
Speaker 2
this trio is at the Village Vanguard, I think, for the whole weekend. But they recorded one day of that weekend. The Sunday, June 25th, 1961, ended up releasing two albums.
00:22:20:18 - 00:22:25:23
Speaker 2
Now, I don't know if this would have been two albums had Scott LaFaro not passed away ten days later.
00:22:26:01 - 00:22:29:03
Speaker 1
It should have been either way. I mean, when you hear it, it's like there.
00:22:29:03 - 00:22:31:13
Speaker 2
Are enough highlights for this to be two.
00:22:31:13 - 00:22:39:01
Speaker 1
Albums. But think about this two albums. That means it's basically the whole gig. Yeah, yeah. I mean, unless they may have done a Matt, you know, if they did a matinee, I wonder.
00:22:39:01 - 00:22:46:01
Speaker 2
I think they did a few sets. Okay. I think they did two maybe three even. And there are multiple takes of things. So they've done things right.
00:22:46:02 - 00:22:50:13
Speaker 1
But still this is a majority of the music that was played that day. Yeah. Two records I.
00:22:50:13 - 00:23:04:02
Speaker 2
Know that's crazy. And they're both also it's Sunday at the Village Vanguard for Debbie. Like it's not just two random live records. Now these are two of the most influential trio records of all time. Yeah. And they were recorded on a Sunday on the same Sunday at the same club.
00:23:04:04 - 00:23:21:23
Speaker 1
Yeah. And somehow they both have their own distinct. I mean, for years I didn't know these were recorded the same. Me neither. Like this. But they have their own personality. Like the sequencing on them is fantastic individually. Yeah. It's not like volume one two or it's not like early set hairs. It's you know, what it reminds me of is My Funny Valentine and Fawn Moore.
00:23:22:04 - 00:23:29:06
Speaker 1
Those two records were from the same year, but they're both great. They make sense once you know they're the but they also make sense on their own. They do.
00:23:29:06 - 00:23:30:09
Speaker 2
Somehow. Yeah, I totally agree.
00:23:30:09 - 00:23:38:22
Speaker 1
And I think walls for Debbie, especially being anchored by probably his most famous composition, his biggest standard, his most beloved composition that anchors that record.
00:23:39:00 - 00:23:49:05
Speaker 2
So release wise, Sunday at the Village Vanguard came out first. And we'll start with Gloria Step, which is a Scott LaFaro composition. Again, keep in mind, this is a live recording.
00:23:49:05 - 00:23:52:14
Speaker 1
What is the theme song for the Saint Louis Blues a few years ago?
00:23:52:14 - 00:23:58:03
Speaker 2
Remember, that's a different Gloria. Okay, I.
00:23:58:04 - 00:24:19:17
Speaker 2
Actually love this tune. Yeah.
00:24:19:19 - 00:24:28:09
Speaker 2
And again, you can hear this interplay happening.
00:24:28:10 - 00:24:34:07
Speaker 2
For.
00:24:34:09 - 00:24:41:07
Speaker 2
A.
00:24:41:09 - 00:24:58:09
Speaker 2
Paul Motian talks about in some interviews not specifically with this trio, but with Bill Evans in general. Yeah. That he loved to play, he loved to rehearse and that they would rehearse all the time. They'd be playing all day. Wow. Gigs or no gigs, just to get it to where you hear it. It was something interesting. We heard Ray Brown talk about.
00:24:58:09 - 00:25:01:17
Speaker 2
Yeah, with Oscar Peterson streaming a similar thing. They'd be practicing all night.
00:25:01:17 - 00:25:03:11
Speaker 1
And Ray Brown love to rehearse.
00:25:03:13 - 00:25:06:23
Speaker 2
Yeah, I love rehearsing too, man. There's no better feeling than feeling like you.
00:25:07:01 - 00:25:22:15
Speaker 1
Actually do not like rehearsing, so I feel weird. But don't worry about it, you know? So I just want to say I was just as I was listening to that, you know, one of the one of the accomplishments of this recording, and I love the way you've put together, as always, will have a Spotify and an Apple playlist for this.
00:25:22:16 - 00:25:31:08
Speaker 1
I think that this is such a I mean, all these records are great, but if all of them are great, what's, you know, what you've put together here for Bill, you know, and the classic trio,
00:25:31:08 - 00:25:35:07
Speaker 1
I think is such a beautiful entry on 3.0. Listen, you know,
00:25:35:07 - 00:25:41:17
Speaker 1
whether or revisiting or just a way of kind of traveling through that without listening to all four records, you can do that, too, of course.
00:25:41:17 - 00:25:42:07
Speaker 2
Yeah, of course.
00:25:42:09 - 00:25:59:13
Speaker 1
But I would say that this Vanguard stuff, I'm sitting here listening, and I can tell you from being in the Vanguard many times as a listener, but actually way more times on stage. What they captured on here. I mean, the playing as a trio is just off the charts as a listener, but also for the inside baseball people.
00:25:59:13 - 00:26:09:14
Speaker 1
It's just like so artful, just the detail oriented. But the sound of it and the fact that the I wasn't alive in 1961, but the Vanguard was talking.
00:26:09:15 - 00:26:11:17
Speaker 2
More about that.
00:26:11:19 - 00:26:28:02
Speaker 1
You might have it. Caleb was he's a little older than all of us, but the idea of, like, it still being the same, at least it feels the same to me. Yeah. And I'm here, the piano here, and the drums. Like, if you haven't been to the Village Vanguard, get your butt down there. I hope it's going to be there forever, but it's been there almost 190 years now.
00:26:28:04 - 00:26:34:05
Speaker 1
Like, you know, get there and experience something like this because magical. And this is captured on that.
00:26:34:05 - 00:26:35:07
Speaker 2
I'm so excited, man.
00:26:35:07 - 00:26:48:16
Speaker 2
I'm doing a New York trip. I took my daughter a couple of years ago just to, like, two of us hanging in New York for a long weekend, going at the end of March with my son Ivan. Yeah. He's never been to New York before. We got tickets for Aaron Parks at the Village Vanguard.
00:26:48:16 - 00:26:58:00
Speaker 2
Oh, I gotta go. I know it's going to be so much fun. He also, my son plays, upright bass now, so I'm really excited for him to experience live jazz on that level at that club.
00:26:58:02 - 00:26:59:11
Speaker 1
It's a magic time. So magical.
00:26:59:11 - 00:27:00:15
Speaker 2
Another track from,
00:27:00:15 - 00:27:11:07
Speaker 2
Sunday at the Village Vanguard is solo. And again, this is with this team of Bill playing Miles stuff. Yeah. You know, always kind of like, as artful as he was, he was a little bit like.
00:27:11:09 - 00:27:11:13
Speaker 3
A.
00:27:11:13 - 00:27:15:17
Speaker 2
Showman. Like, remember that those popular records I was on with Miles. They hope you.
00:27:15:19 - 00:27:19:15
Speaker 1
Like that new original. Here's a little ditty I used to play with a guy named Miles Davis.
00:27:19:15 - 00:27:20:09
Speaker 3
Exactly right.
00:27:20:09 - 00:27:24:09
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's what it feels like. So that's so la. Let's listen to the melody.
00:27:24:10 - 00:27:30:03
Speaker 3
Oh, that cymbal sizzle.
00:27:30:05 - 00:27:32:21
Speaker 3
Oh.
00:27:32:23 - 00:27:42:20
Speaker 2
Oh, oh, actually I want to on this one I want to skip ahead to Scott the Faroes bass solo a little bit. I just want.
00:27:42:20 - 00:27:45:03
Speaker 1
To say before you do that can I jump in?
00:27:45:05 - 00:27:47:04
Speaker 2
I could stop you for track.
00:27:47:06 - 00:28:09:02
Speaker 1
There's four. I'm writing up four names here because I want to send these tracks. I feel like they probably have never heard this and we always think about these records. Everybody knows these, though. And. Okay, I've got four names here of pianists that I think should hear this stuff, and it could influence as great as they are already.
00:28:09:02 - 00:28:14:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, but could take them next level. Aaron Parks. Yeah. Keith Jarrett yeah. Robert Glasper and Brad Melody I'm pretty.
00:28:14:08 - 00:28:17:09
Speaker 2
Sure they've heard all. You think so I think so okay.
00:28:17:11 - 00:28:20:03
Speaker 1
Let's throw that out there. Good one Pete. It's, shout out to all of you guys.
00:28:20:04 - 00:29:00:07
Speaker 2
Let's listen to a little bit of Scott LaFaro is based solo on so LA. And then let's see, let's send these maybe just to Ron Carter. Chris McBride was.
00:29:00:09 - 00:29:02:23
Speaker 3
The first to.
00:29:03:01 - 00:29:09:14
Speaker 2
Do that good is is awesome. Amazing.
00:29:09:16 - 00:29:30:06
Unknown
Boom boom boom.
00:29:30:08 - 00:29:32:06
Unknown
Perfect.
00:29:32:08 - 00:29:34:04
Speaker 3
Oh!
00:29:34:06 - 00:29:41:10
Unknown
Oh.
00:29:41:12 - 00:29:52:16
Unknown
Boom boom boom.
00:29:52:18 - 00:30:02:04
Speaker 2
Run! This time he was also playing with Ornette Coleman. He's on that free jazz album. Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro playing two bass. 031 yeah, yeah yeah.
00:30:02:08 - 00:30:02:21
Speaker 3
Oh that's right.
00:30:02:23 - 00:30:05:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. And so imagine what that's like.
00:30:06:00 - 00:30:06:15
Speaker 3
Again for this.
00:30:06:20 - 00:30:29:06
Speaker 2
Just wanted to demonstrate just what a prodigious talent it's got. The father was 25 years old here as well. So we've covered the first three albums, Portrait and Jazz Explorations. And then Sunday at the Village Vanguard, again recorded in the very same day was Waltz for Debbie, and it wasn't released until later, 1962. And it has this incredible original composition for Bill Evans called walls for Debbie.
00:30:29:06 - 00:30:31:00
Speaker 2
It was written for his niece, Debbie,
00:30:31:00 - 00:30:35:01
Speaker 2
in like 1953. Apparently it's been had been around for a while.
00:30:35:01 - 00:30:49:03
Speaker 2
But to me, this is like this might be the apex for the whole thing. You'll see, I have another apex, but.
00:30:49:05 - 00:30:55:20
Speaker 2
This captures the blues were.
00:30:55:22 - 00:30:57:01
Speaker 3
You go.
00:30:57:03 - 00:30:59:20
Speaker 2
Numb. You look like you've just came from the dentist.
00:31:00:00 - 00:31:05:06
Speaker 3
You are visiting the most beautiful.
00:31:05:08 - 00:31:08:05
Speaker 1
This is the apex. Peter and Adam.
00:31:08:05 - 00:31:10:11
Speaker 2
Just make grunting noises over walls.
00:31:10:13 - 00:31:19:04
Speaker 1
That transition.
00:31:19:06 - 00:31:21:05
Speaker 1
The next transition is great, too.
00:31:21:07 - 00:31:29:21
Speaker 2
We, We learned this. And open studio pro. Yeah. Piano masters club enlightening to say the least. Eye opening.
00:31:29:23 - 00:31:32:21
Speaker 1
I think Scotland Furrows intonation might be my apex moment.
00:31:32:23 - 00:31:39:12
Speaker 2
It's pretty good.
00:31:39:14 - 00:31:56:09
Speaker 2
No.
00:31:56:11 - 00:32:15:20
Speaker 2
A waltz in for what? Let's start entry. That's Waltz for Debbie again from the album Waltz for Debbie. All also recorded live at the Village Vanguard. And there's just one more track I want to play from these four. This is the tune some other time and just see if this seems familiar.
00:32:15:22 - 00:32:21:04
Speaker 3
I never heard it. Is this a blues?
00:32:21:06 - 00:32:37:23
Speaker 2
For those of you who don't know, this is exactly the same opening is flamenco sketches from kind of kind of blues, sort of same vibe.
00:32:38:00 - 00:32:39:04
Speaker 1
This might be the afternoon set.
00:32:39:05 - 00:32:41:02
Speaker 2
You can hear the cash register.
00:32:41:04 - 00:32:56:06
Speaker 1
Yeah. That was just taken out a few years ago.
00:32:56:08 - 00:33:21:14
Speaker 2
So good. Yeah. It's really a tragedy that ten days later, we lost Scott the farmer at such an early age. At 25 years old, he was driving back from a gig in the Catskills to his place and lost control of his car. Apparently, it was borrowed a friend's car or something like that. But, yeah. So just thank you to the Bill Evans trio.
00:33:21:15 - 00:33:28:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. And, you know, the legacy of this was that Bill didn't play for months after Scott died. Yeah.
00:33:28:09 - 00:33:29:07
Speaker 1
He was he was heartbroken.
00:33:29:11 - 00:33:45:12
Speaker 2
Took a lot of that year off just because it was really, really hard. I feel like you can hear in the music, they all felt like they found, you know, people who are in sync with their idea of what music was at that time. And that's a special thing, man. Those people don't come around very often. That's right.
00:33:45:12 - 00:33:45:23
Speaker 2
You know what I mean?
00:33:45:23 - 00:33:59:11
Speaker 1
Like, and you know it when you're in the middle of something special and I'm projecting my own, lack of any actual insight into this, but I can imagine it was feeling like it was the beginning. It didn't feel like it was in the middle of the end.
00:33:59:11 - 00:34:02:20
Speaker 2
Would have to have. Yeah. Just a year and a half together. Yeah.
00:34:02:22 - 00:34:14:03
Speaker 1
Or maybe even barely. I mean, like to us we look at how much happened and then we're kind of like, oh well they were deep into it and musically they were deep into it. But I think chronological it just in terms of the trajectory.
00:34:14:03 - 00:34:20:20
Speaker 1
I mean, it must have been. Oh, I did think of three more pianists we need to send this to, in case you're interested.
00:34:20:22 - 00:34:21:18
Speaker 1
Can you stop me?
00:34:21:20 - 00:34:22:10
Speaker 2
Please do.
00:34:22:15 - 00:34:25:12
Speaker 1
Herbie Hancock, Renee Rosner and Sullivan Fortner.
00:34:25:12 - 00:34:28:12
Speaker 2
I think we're good on sending. Yeah, they they're our favorite.
00:34:28:12 - 00:34:31:01
Speaker 1
Bill Sullivan might. No, but I'm Herbie, and I just.
00:34:31:01 - 00:34:33:23
Speaker 2
Feel like we should chill on the suggestions to the legends.
00:34:33:23 - 00:34:36:06
Speaker 1
I would like it. I'll just say.
00:34:36:08 - 00:34:49:10
Speaker 2
One more track. I just want to play. And this is a tune that was written later. This is called Turn Out the Stars, and Bill Evans wrote this in tribute to Scott LaFaro. Yeah. And this is from a 1966 album with Jim Hall, just a duo record called Into Modulation. Just want to listen to this great.
00:34:49:10 - 00:34:49:20
Speaker 1
Record.
00:34:49:22 - 00:36:05:11
Speaker 2
Great record. This is a beautiful tune that Bill wrote for Scott.
00:36:05:13 - 00:36:24:03
Speaker 2
Gorgeous. And all of the duo records between Bill Evans and Jim Hall. It's magical. Yeah. Let's get to some categories, Peter. Okay, so desert island tracks. I am going to go with Waltz for Debbie. I think if there's one tune from this trio that makes me happy every single time that I think is really, really deep and rich, that I just love so much.
00:36:24:03 - 00:36:25:05
Speaker 2
It's Waltz for Debbie.
00:36:25:07 - 00:36:30:16
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's good one. I'm gonna tell you even better one my desert island blue. Angry.
00:36:30:18 - 00:36:32:18
Speaker 2
Good. Yeah, I can't argue with that. Yeah.
00:36:32:18 - 00:36:56:18
Speaker 1
That's pretty. Even though it's not the the the classic version, the Cobb version. I actually in some ways from, you know, this trio version, I don't know, it's like it's, it's that and more because it's not been listened to as much by my myself or anybody, because you can't avoid the other one in a beautiful way. You can't avoid the, the kind of blue version.
00:36:56:20 - 00:37:08:08
Speaker 1
But I think that would be a fun thing to have on a desert island is, is that I mean, it's just the soul in the spirit of that of this simplicity, you know, Bill's reading of it. Yeah, it's great stuff.
00:37:08:10 - 00:37:16:02
Speaker 2
Apex Moments, I'm going to go with Bill Evans solo on Israel from explorations, the opening track for explorations, which we listen to a little bit,
00:37:16:02 - 00:37:20:08
Speaker 2
Bill solo on that, to me, is the apex moment for this, maybe for this whole trio.
00:37:20:08 - 00:37:44:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's a great one. I'm going to go with that second chorus of Autumn leaves Oz. Good ones. Great. Like because like that was I'm telling you, that's the part that scared me. Yeah. You know what I mean? I get that. And then as I went back and started listening to it over the years, it's the interact action is so compelling, like they're playing the most standard of standards, but like the possibilities that that opens up to it to me is like the apex, like that's what I wanted.
00:37:44:14 - 00:37:53:20
Speaker 1
That's why I feel like it just it congeals the music, the interactivity, like what a piano trio can be.
00:37:53:22 - 00:37:58:00
Speaker 2
Bespoke playlist title. I have a couple here.
00:37:58:00 - 00:38:00:09
Speaker 3
I've got a couple of my.
00:38:00:09 - 00:38:03:06
Speaker 2
If this were an Apple playlist.
00:38:03:08 - 00:38:04:11
Speaker 1
You're getting into that, it would.
00:38:04:11 - 00:38:07:06
Speaker 2
Be called Sweater Weather. That would be the name of the playlist.
00:38:07:07 - 00:38:08:10
Speaker 1
I'm sorry. Say that again.
00:38:08:12 - 00:38:10:03
Speaker 2
These sweater weather.
00:38:10:05 - 00:38:11:05
Speaker 1
Do you have a list?
00:38:11:06 - 00:38:13:20
Speaker 2
Sweater weather. It would be the name of the playlist.
00:38:13:22 - 00:38:14:22
Speaker 1
Why are you looking over there? I don't.
00:38:14:22 - 00:38:24:07
Speaker 2
Know, and then another one. It's winter weather is. I think Spotify would have this on a playlist, like would have any of this music going to play this cold, sensitive, smart boy. That'd be the name of the playlist.
00:38:24:09 - 00:38:31:01
Speaker 1
Okay, can you guys look sensitive? Smart boy. Where's your camera? He looks at me like. Like, look at the camera. Like you're looking at me sensitive.
00:38:31:01 - 00:38:31:14
Speaker 2
Smart boy.
00:38:31:19 - 00:38:35:02
Speaker 1
Now, that's not how you look. Look at it. Look at me again and say it.
00:38:35:04 - 00:38:38:10
Speaker 3
Okay, I gotta look down.
00:38:38:12 - 00:38:39:17
Speaker 1
Okay? I like it, I like it, I like.
00:38:39:17 - 00:38:40:22
Speaker 2
Sensitive, smart boy.
00:38:41:00 - 00:38:42:01
Speaker 3
Here you go. See?
00:38:42:03 - 00:38:44:00
Speaker 1
So such intensity, I like it.
00:38:44:00 - 00:38:47:17
Speaker 1
I think you are a sensitive, smart boy, aren't you?
00:38:47:19 - 00:38:49:12
Speaker 2
They just had the, They just had.
00:38:49:14 - 00:38:50:21
Speaker 1
I'm a sensitive, smart ass.
00:38:50:21 - 00:39:03:08
Speaker 2
Did you watch any of the SNL 50 on Sunday night? So they had this whole, like, compilation of all their commercials that they had? Yeah. And they had one. It was like Fisher Price mints a wishing well for sensitive boys.
00:39:03:10 - 00:39:05:01
Speaker 1
Which I was.
00:39:05:03 - 00:39:05:10
Speaker 3
Just like.
00:39:05:15 - 00:39:11:16
Speaker 2
Wishing well you would have in your house. And just like the sensitive little skinny boy, just like thinking about it.
00:39:11:18 - 00:39:23:16
Speaker 1
I've inspired you. Okay, I got a couple funny ones. Now. I got my my real one. That was inspired by something you said earlier. Okay, first is kind of an obvious one. Shoegaze for life with the four is the number for you guys. For life. You know.
00:39:23:19 - 00:39:26:19
Speaker 2
The big confusing playlist for shoegaze. It's a good.
00:39:26:21 - 00:39:29:10
Speaker 1
Jazz piano bespoke trio jams.
00:39:29:14 - 00:39:32:19
Speaker 2
He got this broke in the episode. He got bespoke in the episode.
00:39:32:19 - 00:39:41:16
Speaker 1
But the one those are just playful ones. Mid-Century modern jazz piano trio Comma raided Colon a.
00:39:41:18 - 00:39:45:15
Speaker 2
Little on I like the mid-century modern jazz piano trio.
00:39:45:15 - 00:39:46:19
Speaker 1
Yeah, rainy day, even.
00:39:46:19 - 00:39:49:13
Speaker 2
That rainy day.
00:39:49:14 - 00:39:49:21
Speaker 3
None of.
00:39:49:21 - 00:39:50:19
Speaker 2
These. B rating.
00:39:51:00 - 00:39:53:11
Speaker 1
No, it's not X, it's not B, it's a.
00:39:53:13 - 00:39:56:19
Speaker 2
Okay. Up next, if there were an album that was up next in like,
00:39:56:19 - 00:39:58:19
Speaker 2
recommend like I do for this, what do you got?
00:39:58:20 - 00:40:02:15
Speaker 1
Okay. So I got two Ahmad Jamal live at the Persian.
00:40:02:15 - 00:40:03:10
Speaker 2
Great call. Yeah.
00:40:03:16 - 00:40:05:11
Speaker 1
And Oscar Peterson. Night train.
00:40:05:12 - 00:40:10:23
Speaker 2
Also a great call. In fact, I think I had explorations in Night Train at the same time. I bought them in the same day.
00:40:11:00 - 00:40:26:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, because you might say, oh, wow. Stylistically it's so different. But like, this is all rated a piano. These are piano trios that are classic. Yeah, that are interactive, that have their own vibe of it. So to me, a lot of times the Up Next is not about, oh, something with the exact same, but like I'm not going to go kind of blue after this because some of it's the same.
00:40:26:08 - 00:40:29:16
Speaker 1
Right? Yeah. We're doing something else that structurally has a connection.
00:40:29:16 - 00:40:42:17
Speaker 2
I went with a couple of I went with pianist on either side of his run with Miles Davis. I went with Kelly Green from when Kelly Gray one, and I went with a Garland of red from Red Garland. First of all, I love the green and red. Yeah. On either side of Bill Evans and his blueness. Yeah. And then.
00:40:42:17 - 00:40:43:12
Speaker 1
Blue Evans.
00:40:43:12 - 00:41:00:13
Speaker 2
Undercurrent, which was Bill Evans and Jim Hall. So I think we would really pair. Well any combo bets on this? I don't have any really to say because I love the way these albums sound. Yeah, I really wouldn't change much of the music. I feel like what they're doing, this is really high level. All of the song selections are great.
00:41:00:17 - 00:41:05:10
Speaker 2
There's originals sprinkled in, even the bass players, right? And killing songs. But I mean, I like yeah, like all of it.
00:41:05:12 - 00:41:20:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. My only quibble that I have is, and if you are a Bill Evans, well, I can't say if you're. I'm a Bill Evans lover. Come on. But I'm like, if you're a deeply, deeply intense Bill Evans lover, you're going to want to fast forward 30s here. Because you may have a quibble a bit with me.
00:41:20:12 - 00:41:21:21
Speaker 2
As you may turn your volume up.
00:41:21:21 - 00:41:36:14
Speaker 1
No, my only quibble bit is that this trio, this especially, I mean, really just Bill Evans. I mean, if you look later like Eddie Gomez, Jack DeJohnette, there's other trios that he played with for longer, but this would be considered the classic, right? Sure. But that they created something so intense, so,
00:41:36:14 - 00:41:40:10
Speaker 1
but so intense and so personal for these three players.
00:41:40:10 - 00:41:51:05
Speaker 1
And really Bill Evans conception, but possibly something that is kind of ease. Not easy, but it can be imitated like there's elements of it that can be taken and people have done.
00:41:51:05 - 00:41:52:19
Speaker 2
That's true. It's been overplayed for sure.
00:41:52:20 - 00:42:03:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. Not that you shouldn't do that. And I don't want to say, oh, this is so easy to do because to do it like this is not it's impossible. But there's something about this. They created like a whole a lot of,
00:42:03:12 - 00:42:21:14
Speaker 1
imitation. Yeah. You know, and so, yeah, you can't blame that. But I'm just saying they kind of went to this whole a little bit, you know, sullen, somber, sad boy, music, which is to me, not really the ethos of jazz, but doesn't like the dynamics, the dynamism, the, the the soul of the way that they played it.
00:42:21:14 - 00:42:30:05
Speaker 1
That's the original, you know, but it is kind of sensitive and stuff. So when you take parts of that and start to imitate it in a bit, perhaps it can kind of become a caricature of itself.
00:42:30:05 - 00:42:32:05
Speaker 2
I think those are fair quibble bits for sure. Okay.
00:42:32:05 - 00:42:38:11
Speaker 2
It's anemometer. I've got it it as a seven. We've been really off on the steam ometer you and I. So I'm interested to hear what you have on this.
00:42:38:11 - 00:42:49:02
Speaker 1
I have it five because I don't understand it. So I'm just going five straight down the middle ever. So I mean it's like, how can Bill Evans be snobby, but how can it not be snobby? Right? It's like he's is the ultimate snob.
00:42:49:02 - 00:42:50:15
Speaker 2
Friends doesn't make sense.
00:42:50:17 - 00:42:54:15
Speaker 1
Well, that's why I said five, buddy. What do you mean? How can you tell? Tell me. Your seven.
00:42:54:17 - 00:42:55:16
Speaker 2
Well, just in that.
00:42:55:16 - 00:42:57:19
Speaker 1
Seven is like a mezzo forte. It means nothing.
00:42:57:19 - 00:43:16:06
Speaker 2
I guess it kind of does that kind of right. But I think it's it's not as accessible as some other. Just like tip in, swing in new dance and alligator boogaloo stuff, you know what I mean? Like, that stuff is easy to listen to this, like you said, like you were turned off when you first like, listen to Autumn leaves, right?
00:43:16:06 - 00:43:21:14
Speaker 2
I think just like someone maybe like monk or someone like that, this takes a little bit of,
00:43:21:14 - 00:43:22:17
Speaker 2
acquiring the taste.
00:43:22:17 - 00:43:37:14
Speaker 1
Well, that's if you're comparing it to other jazz records. I almost think this anemometer should be compared in this case because, like, it's no one's going be like, oh, I've got this, I've got this piano. You probably never heard of Bill Evans. You got to really, like, be an insider. Everybody knows Bill Evans, of course. Right. Everybody. Everybody.
00:43:37:14 - 00:43:54:23
Speaker 1
Thanks Bill Evans. Right. But I would say like a record like interplay. Now, you know, that's one of my favorite records. That's a snobby record because most people like don't even know it. They don't think it's his best record. They're like, no, of course one of these four trio records is his greatest albums, so I almost feel like these are in a way, so straight down the middle.
00:43:54:23 - 00:44:06:12
Speaker 1
I mean, like, if you were to be like, this is your introduction to Bill Evans, you could take any of these records, anything from this, this classic 18 month period and say that represents Bill Evans. So this to me, the snobby level is low because of that.
00:44:06:17 - 00:44:12:08
Speaker 2
No, I'm not sure what the snap ometer means. Okay. Is it better than kind of blue? No, no. Okay.
00:44:12:08 - 00:44:16:21
Speaker 2
Accouterments. I have eight for all four of these. I don't know if we can put all four of these album covers up.
00:44:16:21 - 00:44:24:16
Speaker 2
But, like, portrait and Jazz explorations Sunday and Miles for Debbie, All killing are all classics.
00:44:24:18 - 00:44:29:01
Speaker 1
The only one I would drop down to a seven, perhaps, and some of them, maybe even a nine would be portrait.
00:44:29:01 - 00:44:32:22
Speaker 2
Because because of the nerdy picture where he looks like Michael J. Fox is sad and back to the future.
00:44:32:22 - 00:44:39:01
Speaker 1
Marty McFly. He does a little bit. No, I mean, although compositionally it's great, but it's really up in your face, you know?
00:44:39:01 - 00:44:42:13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Look at that guy Bill. Bill. There's Bill.
00:44:42:13 - 00:44:43:14
Speaker 2
Cool. All right.
00:44:43:14 - 00:44:45:18
Speaker 2
So leave a comment. Let us know your favorite,
00:44:45:18 - 00:44:54:02
Speaker 2
any of these tracks or anything else and then check us out at the nerd. Okay. If you're an open studio member, go to the hang. And I'm going to be making a little video on how to get some of those,
00:44:54:02 - 00:44:57:05
Speaker 2
classic Bill Evans sounds of some of just I have this one voice.
00:44:57:07 - 00:44:58:20
Speaker 1
Of that I just.
00:44:58:21 - 00:45:06:07
Speaker 2
Want thank you very much. I can ape anybody, but, no, I have this one voicing hack. It's one easy voicing hack that.
00:45:06:07 - 00:45:08:09
Speaker 3
I'm not Bill Evans hack. There is a little.
00:45:08:09 - 00:45:12:16
Speaker 2
Voice thing you can do where it's just kind of like, oh, that's Bill Evans. Okay, cool.
00:45:12:18 - 00:45:16:04
Speaker 1
Cool. I don't know if you're going to divulge that some cool rhythmic approaches to.
00:45:16:10 - 00:45:16:17
Speaker 2
He has.
00:45:16:18 - 00:45:21:08
Speaker 1
Really baby be like, oh, that's what that is. That's so simple. I never noticed that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:21:12 - 00:45:28:20
Speaker 2
All right, man, let's do a little blue angry. We got Kim Kirby on the drums, but double bass. Give it up, everybody. Come on. Come on, folks, give it up. Time, to next time.
00:45:28:22 - 00:47:11:17
Speaker 1
You'll hear it.
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