Bill Evans Trio - 'Turn Out the Stars : The Final Village Vanguard Recordings'

My husband Jerry and I saw Bill Evans every chance we got, and living in Manhattan, a chance presented itself often.  In June 1980, Bill was booked to play the Village Vanguard from June 4th through the 8th, and we scored tickets for the June 4th and 8th shows.  Jerry and I had a few inside jokes regarding Bill, that date back to the time when we first saw Bill together back in 1969 at The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, CA.  That night, Bill was visibly ripped on dope (we were ripped on "Orange Sunshine", but that's another story), and while he was staggering to his piano Jerry said to me, "I've got five bucks that says he doesn't make to the piano" (Bill made it to the piano, and played a set, nothing short of sublime).  That joke got repeated throughout the years whenever we saw Bill live, and for the last time on June 8th.  Little did we know that in three months, Bill would be dead from a combination of peptic ulcer, cirrhosis, bronchial pneumonia, and untreated hepatitis. [Sigh - Ed.]

'Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings' is a 6 CD set that wasn't released until 1996 on the Warner Bros. label in 1996.  On these recordings, Bill is a wealth of creative flair, and stretches out in his patented relaxed and fluid style, while getting some great support from trio members Marc Johnson on bass and Joe Labarbera on drums.

Anyone who hears Bill's trio recordings from The Village Vanguard in 1961 with Scot LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums would be hard-pressed to consider the possibility that Bill would find partners as mutually empathetic and individualized in their own playing.  But he certainly did in bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe Labarbera.  To my ears, Bill took as much inspiration from them as he offered to them.

Over the course of these 6 CDs, we find the trio cycling through a fairly extensive repertoire without any sense of monotony.  On the contrary, any given take of "Nardis" or "Days of Wine and Roses" find the threesome rediscovering their individual and collective musicianship, not to mention the material itself.

'Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings' wonderfully bookends with 'The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings' from 1961.

For the freeload, what are some of your favorite live albums?