Pullin’ ‘Tubes: All That Jazz

I’ll be the first to admit I really don’t know too much about jazz, having only scratched the surface of the somewhat daunting genre mostly based on recommendations from friends who know way more about it than I do.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been mildly obsessed with one of those suggestions –  Bill Evans‘ classic live album Sunday At The Village Vanguard. Evans, who is considered one of the most influential jazz pianists, played with the likes of Charles Mingus and as a member of Miles Davis’ famed sextet that recorded Kind Of Blue, prior to heading out on his own.

Just like any good music nerd I decided to do some homework on this album – which turns 40 next year – that should make its way into your collection, if it’s not already there. Recorded on the final day of the Bill Evans Trio’s three-week run at the legendary Greenwich Village club, the selections were culled from five performances (two matinee and three evening sets) on January 25, 1961. The sessions, which feature the final performances of Evans’ famed trio, as the band’s bassist Scott LaFaro was killed just ten days later in a car accident, where also mined for two additional releases Waltz For Debby, and the out of print More From The Vanguard.

Check out this mini-doc, which features the album’s producer Orrin Keepnews talking about Evans and how the album came to be…