Amilisom Although released in 1971, The Bill Evans Trio "Live" was originally recorded in 1964 at the Trident Club in Sausalito, California. It is the first Bill Evans album recorded with drummer Larry Bunker on the Verve label, having played with him before on the Milestone live albums "Time Remembered" and "At Shelly's Manne Hole" a year earlier in 1963. Bassist Chuck Israels at this point has been playing quite consistently since the tragic death of Scott LaFaro in '61 after the famous Village Vanguard recordings and will continue doing so until 1966. He imitates the free style of LaFaro well enough but approaches his solos with more lyrical lines than LaFaro's more frantic approach.

At this stage in Bill Evans' career I believe I hear a notable change in his playing style. Although Evans' improvisations have always contained rhythmic interest as well as influences from the Bebop era, here I hear a slight increase in complexity. There is a possibly that at this point he is beginning to be influenced by the rise of Post-Bop.

So I give this album 6.5/10, perhaps being generous. Overall there's not necessarily anything entirely wrong with this album other than the fact that the groove and feel slightly miss the mark. The trio plays some good tunes (specifically "How My Heart Sings") but rarely do I find myself returning to this by desire rather than out of necessity.