Review: Bill Evans' Trio's 'Waltz for Debby'

Just a few months after Riverside released the first live album by the Bill Evans' Trio, it released the tracks that didn't make it onto Sunday at the Village Vanguard and as Waltz for Debby. Hearing the record 61 years later, it sounds like anything but some sort of barrel scraping or closet cleaning. These sparse, autumnal, extraordinarily romantic, yet never saccharine, recordings by pianist Evans, drummer Paul Motian, and bassist Scott LaFaro (who'd die in a car crash less than two weeks after the date that spawned these albums) are beautifully played and beautifully captured. 

If not for the respectful applause that follows each number, you'd not know Waltz for Debby was a live album. It's one of the best recorded ones I've ever heard, and the spacious interplay between the musicians leaves a lot of room for potential flaws to peak through. But all you'll hear are every nuance of Evan's gently selected melodic phrases, Motian's sizzling cymbals, and LaFaro's searching, soaring bass lines (all due respect to the bandleader, the bass player is really the star here)... and perhaps the occasional off-mic cough. 

A new vinyl reissue of the Bill Evans Trio's Waltz for Debby is the latest installment in Craft Recording's "Original Jazz Classics" series, and it continues a new tradition of outstanding quality. The all-analog mastering from the original master tapes is superb. The vinyl is perfectly quiet, flat, and centered. The cover is thick cardboard with an obi. All of this makes for a true luxury item for audiophile jazz fans and a relatively affordable one at that.