Bill Evans
Waltz For Debby

Almost half a century later, the absolute beauty of this work shines in all its splendor: the first notes of the standard "My Foolish Heart" (an ethereal and impalpable version that truly flows to the ear like clouds in a clear and bright sky on a beautiful sunny day) are enough to enter a magical and enchanted sound world. We are led into it by three musicians who would never record together again (due to tragic circumstances beyond their control), but they would leave an indelible mark on the history of jazz by clearly and precisely codifying the instrumental formula of piano-double bass-drums, brought in this live recording at the Village Vanguard in New York to levels of almost absolute perfection. Bill Evans, Scott La Faro, and Paul Motian do not amaze with special effects, but they capture the listener through the almost telepathic understanding that naturally establishes itself between them: consider the title track, whose beautiful melody is played in unison by the aforementioned Evans and La Faro in its opening bars, then develops and unfolds into a robust and vibrant swing at the same time, of supreme and unparalleled class.

The same goes for the wonderful "Detour Ahead," a composition sung by Billie Holliday and played superbly on this occasion by our musicians: such delicacy and refinement in this ballad! But the prevalence of melodic material (be careful here that there is intimacy, but not the wrenching melancholy of the album "You must believe in spring," a production of the latter Evans era) highlights, conversely, the tension and drama of the pressing version of "Milestones," a Davis classic that the trumpet player himself appreciated in this guise, as the exhaustive liner notes inform us. In short, a six-star album to take to a desert island and listen to again and again until you capture all its details: perhaps wondering how the story would have continued if, fifteen days after this recording, Scott La Faro hadn't lost his life in a car accident, thus crystallizing almost his brief earthly passage in the notes of the solo he performs on this CD within the beautiful "My Romance." In fact, you know what? I might just go and listen to it again...