Amilisom What originally drew me to the obscure Bill Evans album known as "Loose Blues" was primarily the lineup. This was the first album I'd come across where Bill Evans was playing with the bassist Ron Carter, who I'd known primarily through his work with Miles Davis' second great quartet as well as on other quintessential albums of the 60's. The appearance of Philly Joe Jones on drums wouldn't be a first for Evans.

It came as no surprise from the start of track 1, "Loose Bloose," that the groove created between bass and drums swung significantly stronger than the more airy atmosphere usually created in Bill's more usual rhythm sections. What made the mix all the more interesting was the obvious contrast between the rhythm section and the rest of the band. Playing the tenor sax was the soft-spoken Zoot Sims, who I admit to having little knowledge of. Jim Hall, who makes appearances on other Bill Evans albums, plays guitar. The resulting effect, perhaps an exaggeration, is that the bass and drums swing harder than anybody else in the band. Everybody else floats over the groove like a pillow fort built on cinderblocks.

Plus, the combination of piano, guitar, and Sims' delicate tone made for very nice timbres. Whether it's in "My Bells" where the tenor sax is placed with a backdrop of cascading guitar and piano chords, or in the beginning of "Loose Blues" where the melody is played monophonically by Evans and Sims with Hall complimenting the bass line, the combination is unique and enjoyable.

According to the linear notes, Orrin Keepnews actually found the experience and circumstances of recording this album to be quite stressful and frustrating. One of the tunes, "My Bells" features a tempo change partway through the form. It makes the solos interesting to listen to, but recording it was another story. The studio had little money for rehearsal, and the group went as far as Take 25 before having enough material capable of splicing together. As haphazard as the circumstances turned out, the album was ironically not released until 20 years later.

liontime There's a wonderful, crystalline atmosphere contained in these six tracks. All were recorded (beautifully) live; soft audience chatter and glassware can be heard intermittently throughout.

Along with "Live at the Village Vanguard" this is the definitive Bill Evans. The title track is one of the most revered and adored modern jazz standards. Plus there's a tremendous take on Miles' Milestones at the end.

Evans carries you to a time and place of content stasis with his relaxed, cathartic playing. He's never aggressive yet he remains stimulating all throughout. Put this on Sunday morning or Friday afternoon when you want to amplify good vibrations. Good for mixed company, or solitary listening.

Amilisom The best way to understand what makes this a good Bill Evans album is to compare it with its precursor studio album, "Trio '64" and the change of the lineup.

"Trio '64" was the last studio album with long-time drummer Paul Motian, who had played with Evans since 1959's "Portrait in Jazz". His departure was replaced with Larry Bunker, who had already played with Evans at the Trident Club in the 1964 "Bill Evans Trio Live" album and with Monica Zetterlund in "Waltz for Debby" the same year. As a result this album is the first studio album for the Bill Evans Trio with drummer Larry Bunker, allowing for one to see the contrast between his playing and Paul Motian's.

Larry Bunker is something of a "feisty" drummer. Whereas Motian had a more spacious and laid-back way of playing that contributed to the cool jazz aspect of Bill Evans' playing, Bunker pushes forward and makes energetic grooves that encourage Evans to play quicker and more rhythmically interesting licks. The change is most noticeable in the tune "If You Could See Me Now". Strangely enough, it is the tune on the album that gets the closest to being a ballad. Other tunes, like "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)?", begin sounding like a ballad but quickly change to medium swing when Bunker comes in. In "If You Could See Me Now," Bunker submits, perhaps unwillingly, to the slower ballad style. But while doing so he fidgets around with quick, little fills with his brushes like an impatient child with ADHD. Eventually he succeeds in turning the tune into medium swing and even goes double-time at one point. The overall effect is actually really cool and gives a lot of personality to the music.

In the end I would say Larry Bunker's drumming style well fits Bill Evans' piano style, progressing Bill Evans to newer places in his music that would intrigue those used to hearing the Paul Motian days of the Bill Evans Trio.

Amilisom "Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra" is the kind of album that hinges greatly on the listener's expectations. With a name like "Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra" any serious music listener (like a critic) who has most likely become familiar with symphonic works for piano may develop expectations of some kind that this album is going to be something of a third-stream jazz piano concerto. I admit I had this same feeling myself, and my first listen-though of this felt dull, disappointing, and almost led me to give it 2 stars. For the sake of the reader, I will extrapolate more on the causes of my disappointment so that they may be able to avoid my mistake and experience this album to its fullest extent.

Probably one of the biggest problems is this: the first track is a bad representation of the rest of the album. "Granados" begins with Bill Evans playing solo. When he has finished his intro the orchestra takes over with a section separate from his intro. But when this ends Bill Evans comes back in with the members of his trio, Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker. Both Bunker and Israels do a fine job making a groove while Evans plays a good solo, but for listeners wanting the piano concerto sound, the sound of a piano trio coming in is a let down. At this point we might as well assume that the rest of the album is going to be an ongoing system of back-and-forth between the orchestra's classical arrangements and the piano trio playing straight-ahead swing. A couple minutes pass, the time signature changes, and the orchestra joins in behind Evans' solo in sparse, held-out chords before dropping out again.

At this point anybody expecting something different will have most likely given up on this album. It will seem like the orchestra is barely present as there is too much focus on the trio separate from the orchestra. But this flat contrast between orchestra and trio is less present throughout the rest of the album, as Evans joins in with harmony and melody in different places to add to the orchestral arrangement.

But I also have to admit that the criticisms of this album that I have previously discussed are still true. There is a separation between the orchestra and trio, with emphasis on the trio.

This is where one says "So, what?!" The arrangements sound really nice, the trio sounds really nice, and the way the two complement each other creates a fantastic album atmosphere that makes me continue to return to it. Once I accepted that I wasn't going to be hearing another third-stream masterwork like Keith Jarrett's "Arbour Zena" I realized how good and true-to-itself this album actually sounds. Hopefully others will not be turned away from this as I first was.

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.