The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961

This album comes with 3 CD's but there are at least 2 takes on each song. and at least 10 songs per CD. so i guess that runs down the list of songs it has. you will still enjoy the Evans trio, they don't disappoint. this album has Evans best moments, in my opinion. Evans explores the music so perfectly and to his style. the music they emit is so crisp and clean, i can easily listen to this album and any stress i might have just goes away.
Maybe the 'quality' of the recordings itself.. since it is live, might be its down side. but this is eclipsed by the beauty of the music. at times in the recording the ride cymbal might get in the way of the piano and bass. but it rarely happens.
In the end if you are a fan of Bill Evans music, i really suggest you buy this album. it has beautiful jazz standards like 'I loves you porgy' and 'My foolish heart'. it really lives up to his name, and the creative genius he was.

First of all, I was blown away by the recording. The ambience of the audience only adds to the feeling that you are right there, front row, listening, watching three guys ripping it. This is truly one of the best live recordings I have heard, jazz or otherwise. The reperoire between the musicians seems almost telepathic, but the audience doesnt really appreciate the specialness of what they are hearing. They had no idea that less than a month later Scott Lefaro would be tragically killed in an auto accident.

This was a great purchase, but be forewarned, the track sequence can be a problem , it comes in the form of 3 MP3 album downloads. The correct sequence is shown on the album sample page on Amazon. You may have to edit some track #s to get it in the correct chronological order. Once you have that sorted, the entire collection can be burned onto two Audio Cds.

Do yourself a favor, get this one...

This is a very good sample of the Bill Evans trio at its best. Its interesting, enjoyable and mellow but it is not innovative. This set will impress fans of Dave Brubeck and mellow jazz but it will disappoint listners expecting "Kind of Blue" and John Coltrane style innovation.
If you like the mellow Bill Evans style I recommend his "Nirvana" set with Herbie Mann. I personally feel "Nirvana" is a more innovative recording of this style.

Even though I had the two original Riverside LP's and two later CD's purporting to contain remastered essentials from the session, Amazon's price for the latest three-disc collection was too attractive to pass up. After listening to the three discs in sequence, I now question if I even heard what was on the previous recordings. This is at once stunning and immeasurably satisfying music, LaFaro and Evans "in the moment" as never before, their empathy, individual genius, and shared quest of discovery brought to vivid realization for the listener. Not until his final trio with bassist Marc Johnson would the pianist again approach such a level of artistry, but there would be no possibility of a return to the moment of incipient splendor. This may be the greatest value on Amazon, but there's no way to put a price on the music herein. Even if you've limited or stopped purchasing the endangered CD (now apparently going the way of the LP), this one had better be the exception. Forget the download. Both you and Bill deserve better.

WARNING (read the directions): Shortly into the first track, "Gloria's Step," there's an audio drop-out that sounds like some flawed CDs that I've purchased. I requested a replacement from Amazon before reading the enclosed booklet. The one-second gap of silence is a technical glitch or power failure with the Ampex tape recorder, captured just as it transpired (or momentarily expired) on that Sunday afternoon, June 25, 1961.

Warning #2: Listen to "All of You," Take 1 (which moreover was rejected!). Comparing it to Jarrett's version will only convince you that jazz piano has regressed over the past 30 years. Same with Mehldau, or just about any new pianist, however "original." Bill was sui generis. He can become old, at times stale, during the vast "middle period." But on these sets (and anything pre-1961) as well as his last 18 months (1979-80), his music can be more inexhaustibly satisfying than 2000 of my best CDs. In fact, no other artist's music is required (though I guess I would miss Diz, Stitt, and Hank Mobley).

I can give you a book full of reasons why, if you are into jazz, or into piano, or into music in general, you need to buy this set of recordings. Suffice to say, Bill Evans was the peak, the bee's knees, the top of the pole in his time, and this captures some of his brightest and best moments, all in one collection. Delightful tunes, both standards and not so, and alternate takes that shed light on the music making process and the insight that Bill brought to his music. You will read or hear about other jazz pianists who are billed as "the next Bill Evans", or who are "as good as Bill Evans", but whatever, number one: don't believe it, and number two: buy and listen to this set to see what "they" are talking about. This is a wonderful piece of jazz history, and you can have it in your home as fast as the UPS truck can get there. If you prefer studio versions to live, you can get Waltz for Debby or Portrait in Jazz, but be warned that they'll probably make you want to buy this set anyway.