TRIO 64—Bill Evans/ Analogue Productions Vinyl Reissue

I first heard TRIO 64 in 1964 as 7 year old kid. The kid’s father was a Bill Evans disciple and purchased all of the master’s albums as soon as they were available. My father was an aspiring professional jazz musician (tenor sax) and would regale my twin brother and me with stories to heighten our interest as we listened to his favourite music (primarily, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Richard Strauss, Bruckner and Mahler), much of which was completely strange to our ears. But, somehow memorable. And that seed planted 56 years ago took root as as 16 year old as I began to think about a career in music.

Bill Evans. Photo Credit: Wall Street Journal

I had not thought much about TRIO 64 in the ensuing 50 plus years. While Bill Evans and his various sidesmen are favourites of mine, I was focussed on his other albums, especially those loved by audiophiles such as Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard, both from 1961 and featuring Evans’ original trio with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. So, it was a nice surprise during some vinyl reissue reconnoitering Analogue Productions was releasing their reissue of the great man’s legendary TRIO 64. I pressed the buy button as fast as I could.

Considering the superb vinyl reissues of Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard, I was expecting nothing less than audiophile and musical perfection.

The album arrived as advertised. Typical of Analogue Productions, the reissue production values were top notch. Pristine, 180 gram vinyl, and, most importantly, mastered from the original analog tapes. Gatefold, notes and cover art all beautifully intact, too. The original recording was on Verve and was produced by legendary Creed Taylor.

The album is a short 35:40, and includes songs such as ‘Little Lulu’, ‘A Sleepin' Bee’, ‘Always’, ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’, ‘I'll See You Again’, ‘For Heaven's Sake’, ‘Dancing in the Dark’ and ‘Everything Happens to Me’.

By 1963, this recording’s session dates, Evans’ favoured bassist, LaFaro, had died tragically in a car accident in Geneva, upstate NY, and was replaced for this recording by Gary Peacock.

It was during the early ‘60s where Evans’ heroin habit was at one of its peaks and some of his recordings echoed his private life; inconsistent. Happily, TRIO 64’s quality survived the inconsistency caused by his addiction and from grieving his musical partner, LaFaro.

It goes without saying that the repertoire, mostly less than standard standards, sound exquisite in Evans’ hands. His touch on the piano is legendary, akin to listening to the finest concert pianists playing his beloved Chopin Nocturnes and Preludes.

So, the recording quality? I’m not sure the sound is up to Analogue’s lofty standards. This could be the fault of the original engineering. There’s no doubt you can purchase this reissue with confidence and fall in love with the recording all over again. I did. But, the piano treble sometimes has frequency shouts—it’s also on the digital Qobuz file.

Comparison to the very fine Qobuz digital file was interesting. First, audiophiles could live with the file and get a pile of add ons in return. Just 35 minutes of music on the vinyl. And while the percussive piano with overtones sounds just fine on the Qobuz file, it misses some of bassist Peacock’s harmonic complexity and Motian’s drums lose some rich presence.

There’s a softer, musical presentation from the vinyl the digital misses. However, instrumental placement is the same from this remastering—Peacock stage left, Evans centre right, Motian far right and a little back in the mix. Pretty standard trio recording.

I hope my one or two provisos don’t stop you from getting this new vinyl. Vinylphiles will want the vinyl over a file anyway.

Unfortunately for TRIO 64, which it, and Peacock especially, have had their critics, it’s often held in comparison against Debby, which is both one of the greatest jazz recordings coupled with legendary performances. It’s one of the reasons that particular iteration of Evans’ trio is often called ‘the trio’. The benchmark from which all others are judged, including his subsequent trios. However, if you’re both a vinyl and Evans fan, you’ll want this recording.