Bill Evans Trio - At Shelly's Manne-Hole 1963

Bill Evans Trio - At Shelly's Manne-Hole

Personnel: Bill Evans: piano;

 Chuck Israels: bass; 

Larry Bunker: drums.

Track Listing: 

Isn't It Romantic; 

The Boy Next Door; 

Wonder Why; 

Swedish Pastry; 

Our Love Is Here To Stay; 

'Round Midnight;

 Stella By Starlight; 

Blues in F/Five; 

All The Things You Are.

He's been gone since 1980, over a quarter century. Yet Bill Evans' influence continues to grow. This 1963 session, with Chuck Israels (bass) and Larry Bunker (drums) at Shelly Manne's famed Hollywood club, is like the superb Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961 (Riverside, 2005)—an opportunity to savor hearing him captured in a live performance. What's heard here and on the rest of the Manne-Hole sets on Time Remembered (Milestone), as well as on the Vanguard set with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, is Evans in the course of actually redefining what a deeply empathetic trio could sound like. They set a new standard and in the reproduced original liner notes by Israels (who succeeded La Faro in the trio), one gets a sense of what it was like to be a part of that process. 

The element of surprise, the moments of brilliance captured in vivo, especially notable here with "'Round Midnight, make for the sudden thrills which even a fine studio recording rarely offers. Evans' blend of dynamic lyricism and accessible, sophisticated playing is gloriously evident here. In his intro, only a few seconds of mounting tension give us just that unexpected jolt before sweeping us into the familiar Monk melody. Overall it's a spare reading, with Bunker's brushes and Israel's beats providing just the right mix of buoyancy and solidity. 

A previously unreleased cut, "All The Things You Are, has been added here. Consider it another piece of perfection.