Bill Evans Trio - Who Can I Turn To? - 19 Mar 65 (8 of 11)

London, March 19, 1965

Personnel:

Bill Evans - p
Chuck Israels - b
Larry Bunker - d

Set:

Part I

Five (theme)
Elsa
Summertime
Come Rain Or Come Shine
My Foolish Heart
Re: Person I Knew
Israel
Five (theme)

Part II

Five (theme)
How My Heart Sings
Nardis
Who Can I Turn To?
Some Day My Prince Will Come
How Deep Is The Ocean?
Waltz For Debby

Notes:

"Who Can I Turn To?" was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the ill-fated musical "The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd," and published in 1964. (Lyttelton incorrectly associates the song with "Stop the World -- I Want to Get Off; he was likely confusing this song with 'What Kind of Fool Am I?") Originally recorded by Tony Bennett; Evans was one of the first jazz musicians to perform the song.

This is the third incarnation of Bill Evans' great '60s piano trios, playing at a very high level. Chuck Israels' bass work, in particular, is nothing short of virtuosic. His playing shows the influence of Scott LaFaro -- especially in his use of counterpoint -- but he's supremely inventive.

Background:

Evans' first (and greatest) trio featured the irreplaceable Scott LaFaro on double bass and Paul Motian on drums. After LaFaro's tragic death in a car accident in 1961 (at age 25), Evans was so overcome with grief that he didn't play again publicly for almost a year. In early '62, he reformed his trio and hired Chuck Israels to replace LaFaro. Motian departed the trio in 1964, and was replaced by Larry Bunker.

If you're interested in hearing the greatest of all piano trios, here are the CDs to buy:

PORTRAIT IN JAZZ (1959)
EXPLORATIONS (1961)
THE COMPLETE VILLAGE VANGUARD RECORDINGS, 1961 (3-CDs representing the trio's complete five sets at the Village Vanguard on Sunday, June 25, 1961, 11 days before LaFaro's death).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• London
• 1965
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• live
• concert
• Bill
• Evans
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• Larry
• Bunker
• Chuck
• Israels
• who
• can
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• anthony
• newley
• The
• Roar
• of
• the
• Greasepaint
• Smell
• Crowd
• Leslie
• Bricusse

[Dentakulator]

@Kenjames64 Humphrey Lyttelton - 'Humph' to his friends and colleagues - the gentleman doing the introduction, achieved something approaching national treasure status in the UK. He was a superb jazz trumpeter, whose hero, Louis Armstrong called him one of the finest jazz trumpeters in the world. He wrote the jazz standard 'Bad Penny Blues' and was still playing regularly up until his death in 2009 at the age of 86 - even appearing on Radiohead's album 'Kid A' (I think). (cont...)

[kenjames64]

@Dentakulator Thanks for taking the time to post this. I had never heard of Lyttelton before finding a copy of this show on DVD -- I don't think he had a lot of exposure in the U.S. -- but high praise indeed from Armstrong. From watching him host this television show, it's obvious he knows a lot about jazz. I'll seek out some of his work. Thanks again. -Ken

[Dentakulator]

Lovely footage of Humphry Lyttelton

[kenjames64]

@Dentakulator Don't know a lot about him. Can you talk about him?

[thenoeggplantzone]

Very cool thread of conversation, Thanx!

[speedskis777]

Oh god, that is so beautiful...

[NorthWriter]

Great tune. I love Bill's gentle playing style. He had such a great understanding of dynamics and feel. And Chuck's solo is really great...totally fits the feel of the song.

Also, the girl at the beginning is a hottie. :)

[exjazzbassbaz]

@y34r i think you got that right my friend..scott was some player..along with my favs ray brown and NHOP.

[y34r]

imo,of all bill evans' bassists

chuck's only second to scott lafaro

way underrated

deep playing,sense of hamony and interplaying with bill is just damn high

imo,i don't think eddie gomez and mark johnson are 'that' suitable with bill

I feel like both of them overplaying all the times,

but well that's just me

[jazzmoran]

his best trio!!!!

[galenfott]

@Dentakulator He's wrong on one point though; this song is from Newley/Bricusse's "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd", not "Stop the World". Lovely rendition, at any rate!

[brewepau]

So damn good! Whew! No words can describe it, so I'll stop with these.

[keyzcity]

dood chuck actually developed that solo instead of just shredding

[ehanbameh1]

if scotty was there to play base instead of chuck.