Recorded at the
Village Vanguard
in 1961, shortly before
Scott LaFaro
's death,
Waltz for Debby
is the second album issued from that historic session, and the final one from that legendary trio that also contained drummer
Paul Motian
. While the
Sunday at the Village Vanguard
album focused on material where
LaFaro
soloed prominently, this is far more a portrait of the trio on those dates.
Evans
chose the material here, and, possibly, in some unconscious way, revealed on these sessions -- and the two following
's death (
Moonbeams
and
How My Heart Sings!
) -- a different side of his musical personality that had never been displayed on his earlier solo recordings or during his tenures with
Miles Davis
George Russell
:
was an intensely romantic player, flagrantly emotional, and that is revealed here in spades on tunes such as
"My Foolish Heart"
"Detour Ahead."
There is a kind of impressionistic construction to his harmonic architecture that plays off the middle registers and goes deeper into its sonances in order to set into motion numerous melodic fragments simultaneously. The rhythmic intensity that he displayed as a sideman is evident here in
"Milestones,"
with its muscular shifting time signature and those large, flatted ninths with the right hand. The trio's most impressive interplay is in
"My Romance,"
after
' opening moments introducing the changes. Here
Motian
's brushwork is delicate, flighty and elegant, and
controls the dynamic of the tune with his light as a feather pizzicato work and makes
' deeply emotional statements swing effortlessly. Of the many recordings
issued, the two
Vanguard
dates and
Explorations
are the ultimate expressions of his legendary trio. [Original Jazz Classics Remasters also released the disc.] ~ Thom Jurek