MY NORTHERN SKIES

Hello, welcome to the My Northern Skies website, home of my two weekly radio shows, which alternate here each week, The Jazz File every Tuesday (8pm) and Flick the Dust Off every Friday (10am).

Featured Album | 402

Bill Evans | Waltz for Debby | Riverside RLP 9399 | 1962

It was tragedy that ensured a short life for this fine trio, with the fatal accident involving the young bassist Scott LaFaro on 6 July, 1961, just ten days after this historic recording was made at the Village Vanguard in New York. The trio had already released three albums on the Riverside label leading up to this, Portrait in Jazz (1960), Explorations (1961) and Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961), essentially the first part of this date at the venue. The six selections, recorded in the relatively quiet ambience of the famous club, showcases precisely what these three musicians could deliver on a good night, each of them providing the vital ingredients for the finished dish. The inventive bass runs in particular reveal a musician who you could well imagine being much missed after LaFaro’s tragic accident. Named for Evans’ niece, the title composition dominates the first side, sandwiched between the much shorter opener “My Foolish Heart” and the slightly longer “Detour Ahead” before we even consider flipping the record over. Once that particular chore is done, the good news continues with a fine reading of the Rogers/Hart number “My Romance” before venturing into Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time”, from the earlier musical On the Town, which is so close to the slow ballads on Kind of Blue, it wouldn’t have been out of place on that landmark album. Tipping his hat to his recent collaborator and band leader Miles Davis, Evans rounds things off with a delicate rendition of “Milestones”, which loses none of the power demonstrated by Miles’ first great quintet version recorded three years earlier for the album of the same name.

Playlist:

Happy Hour – Elmo Hope Trio (New Faces New Sounds)

Milestones – Bill Evans (Waltz for Debby)

A Night in Tunisia – Donald Harrison (Real Life Stories)

Circuit for Three – Angela Davis (Little Did They Know)

Can’t Find My Way Home – Gilberto Gil (Gilberto Gil)

Pedal Eyes – Four Altos (Four Altos)

Bernie’s Tune – Tierney Sutton (Unsung Heroes)

Wade in the Water – Milt Hinton (The Basement Tapes)

Waltz for Debby – Bill Evans (Waltz for Debby)

One Planet – Sandy Evans (Kapture)