Bill Evans Trio - Waltz For Debby

The Quiet Milestone.

A summer day in June 1961, New York’s Village Vanguard: Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian step onto the small stage – and create music that endures. From these concerts came two albums that shaped jazz history: Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby. The latter, named after Evans’s niece, is regarded as one of the most tender and moving recordings in the genre. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1929, Evans was a quiet revolutionary. Classically trained, influenced by Debussy and Ravel, he brought a new lyricism into jazz. His left hand built floating voicings, his right hand sang melodies that seemed spoken rather than played. Fame came in 1959 when he joined Miles Davis on Kind of Blue – yet his heart belonged to the trio format, where music could turn into dialogue. With LaFaro and Motian he found partners who redefined the piano trio. The bass sang, the drums painted, Evans left space – and together they let the music drift and shimmer. Waltz for Debby captures this magic – intimate, vulnerable, alive with the clinking of glasses and the hush of the room. Evans kept those sounds in the mix, wanting the listener to feel present in the moment of creation.

Ten days later, LaFaro died in a car accident. Evans was devastated, silent for months. The trio would never play again. Thus Waltz for Debby became an elegy – for a friend, for a unique chemistry, for a sound just beginning to bloom. Evans went on to record prolifically, influential and revered. Yet the purity and intimacy of this album remained unmatched. Critics hailed it as “a milestone in the art of the trio.” To listeners even today, it feels like a handwritten letter – quiet, honest, timeless.

Side B

1. My Romance (Take 1)  
2. Some Other Time  
3. Milestones