Trio 64

TRIO 64 contains 8 bonus cuts, comprising all the alternate takes found on the COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE box set.
Personnel: Bill Evans (piano); Gary Peacock (bass); Paul Motian (drums).
Producer: Creed Taylor.
Reissue producer: Michael Lang.
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York, New York on December 18, 1963. Includes liner notes by Fred Hersch and Jack Maher.
Digitally remastered using 20-bit technology by Suha Gur (Polygram Studios).
This is part of the Verve Master Edition series.
The conservatism that some perceive in the music of Bill Evans is countered by the fact that his records almost always flew in the face of trends. When making his own recordings he was not a hard bopper, did not jump on the soul-jazz train and never threw song structure out the window. A chamber musician who just happened to dig jazz, Evans proved that formalism and sensitive pianistic touch had a place in music that swung.
Bassist Gary Peaock comes up with consistently resourceful ways to push the time and tune along without resorting to straight walking. On drums, the irrepressible Paul Motian brings an enthusiam for tongue-in-cheek rhythmic toying that is contagious and evident throughout the CD. Interplay amongst these three on standards and oddities is highly personal without sacrificing the kinetic energy essential to great jazz. All in all there is a palpable geniality to this sesson recorded on one day in December '63. It is Evans and company in a decidedly extroverted, somewhat lighthearted mode. What other serious jazz musician would put "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in their set and yield such felicitous results?