'Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings' is a 3CD set released in November 2025 on the Craft Recordings label. Nick Phillips is the archival producer. The historic 1959 and 1961 recording studio sessions compiled in the set were originally produced by Orrin Keepnews.
The collection includes albums 'Portrait in Jazz' and 'Explorations', in stereo and mono, plus 26 alternate takes, 17 of which are previously unreleased. This is an intimate look at the iconic pianist Bill Evans, pioneering bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian development as a trio.
Bill Evans Trio is one of the most influential jazz groups of all time, with the Evans/LaFaro/Motian lineup taking on an almost mythical status. The trio formed just a few months after the Bill completed the sessions for Miles Davis' landmark 1959 album 'Kind of Blue', and the trio was an instant sensation. Their work, not unlike 'Kind of Blue', helped to redefine the sound of modern jazz.
Bill's singular approach to the piano, marked by his use of classical-influenced impressionistic harmonies, rootless voicings, and singing melodic lines. Along with Scott LaFaro's equally distinctive melodic bass lines and Paul Motian's elastic sense of swing. Together they created a new kind of trio, where each member played together in a "conversational way", rather than as simple accompaniment for the pianist.
Released in 1960, 'Portrait in Jazz' introduced the trio's subtle interplay, and their renditions of standards like "Witchcraft", "Come Rain or Come Shine", and "Someday My Prince Will Come" (preceding Miles' version by a year) remain some of the most definitive versions put to record. The same is true of 1961's 'Explorations', which featured their deeply romantic rendition of "Haunted Heart" (a jazz piano staple ever since) and found them putting their own stamp on Miles Davis songs like "Nardis" and "Israel."
CD 1:
Portrait in Jazz (Stereo)
01. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 5, Album Master)
02. Autumn Leaves (Take 13, Stereo Album Master)
03. Witchcraft (Take 5, Album Master)
04. When I Fall in Love (Take 2, Album Master)
05. Peri's Scope (Take 2, Album Master)
06. What Is This Thing Called Love (Take 4, Album Master)
07. Spring Is Here (Take 6, Album Master)
08. Someday My Prince Will Come (Take 5, Album Master)
09. Blue in Green (Take 3, Album Master)
Alternate Takes from the Portrait in Jazz Session (Mono)
10. Witchcraft (Take 4, Alternate)
11. Witchcraft (Take 6, Alternate)
12. Spring Is Here (Take 4, Alternate)
13. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 2, Alternate)
14. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 4, Alternate)
CD 2:
Alternate Takes from the Portrait in Jazz Session (Mono) cont.
01. Autumn Leaves (Take 9, Mono Album Master)
02. Blue in Green (Take 1, Alternate)
03. Blue in Green (Take 2, Alternate)
04. Someday My Prince Will Come (Take 1, Alternate)
Explorations (Stereo)
05. Israel (Take 1, Album Master)
06. Haunted Heart (Take 3, Album Master)
07. Beautiful Love (Take 2, Album Master)
08. Elsa (Take 5, Album Master)
09. Nardis (Take 2, Album Master)
10. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 3, Album Master)
11. I Wish I Knew (Take 4, Album Master)
12. Sweet and Lovely (Take 4, Album Master)
Alternate Takes from the Explorations Session (Stereo)
13. Elsa (Take 4, Alternate)
14. Elsa (Take 6, Alternate)
15. Sweet and Lovely (Take 3, Alternate)
16. Sweet and Lovely (Take 5, Alternate)
CD 3:
Alternate Takes and Outtakes from the Explorations Session (Stereo)
01. Sweet and Lovely
02. Nardis (Take 1, Alternate)
03. Beautiful Love (Take 1, Alternate)
04. I Wish I Knew (Take 2, Alternate)
05. I Wish I Knew (Take 3, Alternate)
06. I Wish I Knew (Take 5, Alternate)
07. Haunted Heart (Take 2, Alternate)
08. The Boy Next Door (Take 1, Outtake)
09. The Boy Next Door (Take 4, Outtake)
10. The Boy Next Door (Take 6, Outtake)
11. Walking Up (Take 1, Outtake)
12. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 1, Alternate)
13. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 2, Alternate)
If you are a Bill Evans fan you really should have this.
The audio was newly remastered by Paul Blakemore, using Plangent Processes to remove tape speed variations, resulting in dynamic sound with crisp detail.
These recordings have never sounded better.
For the freeload, what are some of your favorite "alternate takes", "outtakes" and "previously unreleased" recordings?
With the exception of one album, Classified, just about everything else that has been released by, or on behalf of, James Booker is "previously unreleased." Classified was his only officially sanctioned recording and it almost never materialized since he was awol for 6 of the 7 days of studio time that had been purchased by the label company. The rest of his catalogue basically consists of "unofficial" live recordings that wound up being mastered into a passable product.
ReplyDeleteBooker was quite the character.
DeleteCharacter indeed. A friend was once there in 1975 or so when Booker, having just started to play, casual, nbd, used one hand to pull a out a gun out of his pants. It sat there the rest of the show. He took it when he finished.
DeleteHe was wearing only a diaper at the time he pulled the gun. When he was a young child, he got hit by an ambulance and it caused severe damage to one of his legs. They managed to save his leg, but introduced him to morphine in the process, which put him in a battle with demons for the rest of his life.
DeleteAll the stuff on Zappa's Hot Rats Box (& most of his other box sets).
ReplyDeleteZappa's outtakes are everybody else's intakes.
DeleteMy favorite is Bird’s “A Night in Tunisia” (take 1) a.k.a. “The Famous Alto Break”. It’s four-bar unaccompanied solo, that’s 46 seconds of perfection. It begins with a sweeping F major 7 arpeggio before weaving through intricate, outside-the-box lines that perfectly resolve back into the song's root key of D minor. This my friends, is harmonic structure of a very high order indeed. Unfortunately the band (including a 19-year-old Miles) struggled to smoothly re-enter at the blistering speed, and the take was cut short.
ReplyDeleteANON RF: Great choice, Babs. I truly think Charlie Parker was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century. I would pay insane money for a chance to hit the wayback machine and listen to him kill on 52nd St. First time I heard him was on the Massey Hall LP with Liz, Max, Mingus, Bud Powell. I was not a jazz fan as my mate put the platter on the stereo. When the needle hit the groove I became a lifelong nutcase. The famous alto break... marvelous.
DeleteDiz, not Liz, ffs.
DeleteBob Dylan - 1980/81 - "Shot of Love" Sessions. Large number of songs recorded Dylan while wrestled with putting together an album right in the middle of his Gospel phase. My favorite unreleased Dylan song is from these sessions - "Caribbean Wind" - sung live in concert only 1 time in San Francisco (11/12/1980). He recorded a few versions during the sessions, one with a country and western flavor - but apparently none to his satisfaction to include on the album. Too bad - I always thought it would have been a perfect 10th song on Shot of Love.
ReplyDeleteIn the unreleased category, a favorite of mine since it came out in the early 2000s is Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. In the outtake category, I vote for "Pico & Sepulveda," a fixture on Dr. Demento's radio show. It was cut by some session cats in Hollywood who found themselves with a little time to kill after cutting a jingle for a local rug merchant. The ensuing tribute to the streets of Los Angeles is a minor miracle in its goofiness. I've often wondered if a little reefer might have been involved.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Cash's American Recordings outtakes (officially released and bootleg) have a certain je ne sais quoi, but I don't know what it is.
ReplyDeleteIt's what I call a "je ne sais quoi."
DeletePaul Bowles made recordings of the musical heritage of Morocco in 1959, available in this really nice box set:
ReplyDeletehttps://dusttodigital.bandcamp.com/album/music-of-morocco-recorded-by-paul-bowles-1959
https://www.paulbowles.org/moroccan-music
~Jon in California
There is an album that was released last year by a band called "The Genesis' (not the Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel bunch but a band from Milton Keynes) that was recorded in 1967 which is excellent pop psych album. A band called the Beat Merchants who recorded only two singles had a retrospective album released a few years ago which is pretty good. I also like many of the retrospectives released from Curt Boettcher library of recordings (Millenium/ Sandy Salisbury etc) and of course some of Hendrix's posthumous releases. 'First Rays Of The Sun' comes to my mind.
ReplyDeleteThe Little Feat deluxe editions - especially the recent first album - are pretty juicy.
ReplyDeleteCorrect, and, I might add, especially the first album LOL
DeleteLeave us not forget the first album as well, neither nohow!
DeleteMoving backwards, before my time, when I "discovered" Charlie Parker, I wanted to listen everything he did. Take Care.
ReplyDeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/kQZUWhCd5LN
Why it just so happens that I reposted an album that reintegrated some of my very favorite outtakes and previously unreleased's into their proper place.
ReplyDeletehttps://onebuckrecords.blogspot.com/2026/05/lets-look-at-those-crazy-eyes-once.html
Also, on Yes' "Tormato" album, most outtakes/demos outshone the proper album tracks, or almost.
ReplyDeleteThat's not really a high bar, though!
Delete