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Bill Evans - Village Vanguard Question

I'm confused about the 3 CD set of the famous Vanguard recordings of Bill Evans.

Supposedly the songs are presented in the order in which they were performed during the 6 sets the trio played. If that's the case why are there "take 1's" and take 2's", etc? Can someone explain?

I read Orrin Keepnews liner notes but still don't get it.

This is probably the best piano trio music I've ever heard.

E.
easy_e
bnrlaw
130 posts
 
I believe it's because they were recording for their albums Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby and they did repeat takes of their songs until they felt they played it well enough that it was good enough for the albums. If you look, one or two of the songs were one take only because they must have felt they nailed the song on the first take and, therefore, didn't need to do it again.
gdoodle
113 posts
 
Wikipedia says "Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz for Debby (all recorded in 1961)... albums are live recordings, both drawn from the same recording date. In 2005, the full sets were collected on the three-CD set The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961."

Yes, many would agree that this is the best jazz piano recording ever made. Why was that level of playing not repeated much if ever by Evans? Bassist Scott Lafaro was killed only ten days after the last Vangaurd session in a car accident.
weim_boy
27 posts
 
The VV 1961 recordings are tops on my list of recordings too.

I believe that the takes refer to the order of presentation during the 5 VV sets.

"Gloria's Step" was played at the first set, but the second time it was played (third set) was issued on Sunday at the Village Vanguard.

Happy listening,

Jeff
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