Craft Recordings announces the second batch of Original Jazz Classics series reissues — all of which are essential additions to any jazz fan’s collection: Mal Waldron Sextet’s Mal/2, Yusef Lateef’s Eastern Sounds, as well as a pair of landmark recordings from the Bill Evans Trio, Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard.

Delivering the highest-quality listening experience, each album boasts lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI and tip-on jackets, replicating the original artwork. All titles will also be released digitally in 192/24 HD audio. The second batch of OJC series reissues begins June 30th, and all four albums available for order today. Additionally, fans can find the recently announced Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane reissue in stores on May 26th, 2023 while further releases in the series will be announced later this year.

One of the most influential artists in the history of jazz, Bill Evans (1929–1980) was known for his conversational interplay within his trios, his lyrical compositions and his matchless approach to the piano. In 1959, after a year with Miles Davis’ sextet, Evans embarked on a new chapter with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian — a unit that would redefine the notion of the piano trio.

Over the next two years, the group recorded four foundational titles together, beginning with Portrait in Jazz and Explorations. Their final two albums, 1961’s Sunday at the Village Vanguard and 1962’s Waltz for Debby were both captured live on June 25, 1961, at New York City’s legendary Village Vanguard club.

Tragically, that would be the last time that the trio would play together, as LaFaro was killed in a car accident days later.

Side A:
1. My Foolish Heart
2. Waltz For Debby
3. Detour Ahead

Side B:
4. My Romance
5. Some Other Time
6. Milestones

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 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.

Thus, and in my own humble opinion, Waltz for Debby is probably one of the chillest, mellowest jazz albums ever made that is not Kind of Blue. Furthermore, there is a kind of impressionistic construction to Evans’ harmonic architecture that plays off the middle registers and goes deeper into its musical resonances, perhaps in order to set into motion numerous melodic fragments simultaneously.

Indeed, Evans’ piano work is hypnotically beautiful, full of an incredible lyricism, impressionism, and lushness and a bit of playfulness, perhaps none more so than on the title track and the delightful My Romance. But it is on the ballads, such as My Foolish Heart, Detour Ahead, and Some Other Time, were, and again, to my journalistic, yet jazz-adoring mind, where Evans really shines.

But the rhythmic intensity that he displayed as a sideman is most evident here within Milestones, with its muscular shifting time signature and those large, flatted ninths with the right hand.

In short, of the many recordings Evans issued, the two Vanguard dates and Explorations are the ultimate expressions of his legendary trio. They are just so incredible to listen to and if you are not hypnotized from the off, and long before you have flipped the vinyl LP over for Side B, then whey did you even bother buying this album in the first place?!

Originally released in 1962 as a companion to the aforementioned Sunday At The Village Vanguard, this new edition of the album is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and presented in a Tip-On Jacket.

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