#30 Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans

1961. What happened in 1961? John Kennedy was elected to the White House, future reality TV star Susan Boyle was born and Barbie got a new boyfriend in the form of goody two shoes Ken. In terms of music it appears not a lot actually happened this year with it only yielding one album on the list. However, I personally believe that this list missed a trick by leaving out Judy Garland’s Judy At Carnegie Hall. Mind you this isn’t because I particularly like the album but it was meant to be one of the big nights in music and actually won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. But in the end there must me a good reason this was missed out and so that’s the end of that.

So in a way there is even more pressure piled upon Bill Evan’s Sunday At Village Vanguard for not only does it afford a place on such a list but also must represent an entire year. Maybe I am pinning too much hope and expectation on one album before I even know what it is. A live album? Ok that isn’t so bad there‘s been a couple of good ones so far. A live jazz album though, not so good.

Upon the first listen though, I believe that this may be the live jazz album to change my mind. The lack of any brass instruments and the prominence of a piano and a stringed instrument (in this case a superbly played bull fiddle) does a lot to distance this from a lot of jazz albums whilst still maintaining the jazz label. Also there is absolutely no talking from anyone in this album, just brief smatterings of applause, this is the most studio album of the live ones. Again a huge thing in favour of this album.

However, upon the second listen the negatives began to creep in. As you will notice from my Fab Four most of these songs are accompanied by take numbers. This points towards the biggest con of Sunday At Village Vanguard; the use of multiple takes. While it’s not as if these are completely identical but they are easily discernable as the same song. As such this album sounds way too repetitive, with some cuts of the album actually having three takes of one song. On the second listen this becomes a very pronounced weakness that detracts from the enjoyment of this album. This is a real pity as there is so much that is good on this album which is ruined by the multiple use of the same tracks which just makes me feel cheated out of a great jazz experience that would have been better if Bill Evans chose one take and stuck to it.

6.5/10

Fab Four:
Gloria’s Step (Take 2)
Solar
Alice In Wonderland (Take 2)
All Of You (Take 3)