Waltz For Debby＜限定盤＞

ジャズ史上最も影響力のあるグループのひとつであり、ピアノ・トリオの概念を再定義したユニットの4作目にして最後のアルバムで日本で最も長く愛されているジャズの名盤。

ベーシスト、スコット・ラファロの命を奪った高速道路事故の数日前に録音されたこのアルバムは、ビル・エヴァンス・トリオが今後数十年のジャズの可能性を示す前触れとして、創造的な交流のレベルを要約したもの。(関連アルバム『サンデイ・アット・ザ・ヴィレッジ・ヴァンガード』と同日録音)。

エヴァンス、ラファロ、ポール・モチアンの3人は、これらの演奏で驚くほど自由に演奏し、鋭いバランスと美の感覚を常に保っている。テンポとムードの流れは、トリオのコンセプトの深さを強調し、50年以上経った今でもトリオの経験が損なわれることのない魔法をかけている。このアルバムは、革新的なラファロのソロ作品と作曲に重点を置いているのが特徴である。

〈パーソネル〉Bill Evans (p) Scott Lafaro(b) Paul Motian(ds) 1961年6月25日、ニューヨーク、ヴィレッジ・ヴァンガードにてライヴ録音。

Recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961, shortly before Scott LaFaro's death, Waltz for Debby is the second album issued from that historic session, and the final one from that legendary trio that also contained drummer Paul Motian. While the Sunday at the Village Vanguard album focused on material where LaFaro soloed prominently, this is far more a portrait of the trio on those dates. Evans chose the material here, and, possibly, in some unconscious way, revealed on these sessions -- and the two following LaFaro's death (Moonbeams and How My Heart Sings!) -- a different side of his musical personality that had never been displayed on his earlier solo recordings or during his tenures with Miles Davis and George Russell: Evans was an intensely romantic player, flagrantly emotional, and that is revealed here in spades on tunes such as "My Foolish Heart" and "Detour Ahead." There is a kind of impressionistic construction to his harmonic architecture that plays off the middle registers and goes deeper into its sonances in order to set into motion numerous melodic fragments simultaneously. The rhythmic intensity that he displayed as a sideman is evident here in "Milestones," with its muscular shifting time signature and those large, flatted ninths with the right hand. The trio's most impressive interplay is in "My Romance," after Evans' opening moments introducing the changes. Here Motian's brushwork is delicate, flighty and elegant, and LaFaro controls the dynamic of the tune with his light as a feather pizzicato work and makes Evans' deeply emotional statements swing effortlessly. Of the many recordings Evans issued, the two Vanguard dates and Explorations are the ultimate expressions of his legendary trio. ~ Thom Jurek