Bill Evans Trio - Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live

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Music reviews of Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live

Music Review: One for the ages
Rating: 5 Stars

Description of Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live

Largely a final encounter with Evans's key repertoire, the set includes multiple versions of his favorite pieces, like the ballads "But Beautiful," "My Foolish Heart," and "Emily," and his own "Letter to Evan" and "Turn Out the Stars," perennial stimulants for his profound harmonic imagination. But there are also then-recent compositions that never reached the recording studio, like "Yet Ne'er Broken," the repeating "Your Story" with its subtle underlying movement, and "Knit for Mary F." The signature "Nardis" is heard in six different versions, each of them compelling and each a distinct exploration, from a crisp seven-minute version to a concluding performance that stretches to nearly 20. Evans introduces the third version: "We've learned from the potential of the tune, and every once in a while a new gateway opens and it's like therapy." Each of the longer versions is a structure for extended solos by each trio member. Evans's own improvisations are concentrated in extended unaccompanied introductions, stretching to a sublime seven minutes on the final version.

The set is a treasure trove for Evans enthusiasts, inviting close and extended listening and rewarding it with the subtlest inventions and variations. There are rare depths here that represent some of his greatest recorded work. --Stuart Broomer

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