Explorations
The trio's second and final studio album, with Israel and the first trio Nardis.
Bill Evans Trio, 1961
- Released
- 1961
- Recorded
- February 1961
- Studio
- Bell Sound Studios, New York City
- Label
- Riverside
- Producer
- Orrin Keepnews
Explorations followed Portrait in Jazz and was the second and last studio album by the LaFaro trio. Bill Stoddard engineered it. Unlike Evans's three earlier trio recordings, it has no Evans originals. It opens with John Carisi's Israel, which Miles Davis had recorded in 1949, and includes Davis's Nardis and Earl Zindars's waltz Elsa. The producer Orrin Keepnews said LaFaro played on a loaned bass at the sessions.
The album won the Billboard jazz critics poll for best piano LP of 1961. David Rickert of All About Jazz called Elsa one of the most beautiful piano ballads on record, and Thom Jurek of AllMusic wrote that it showed the reach of the trio at its peak. The 1987 CD adds the first take of Beautiful Love and The Boy Next Door, which was set aside for lack of space on the LP.
Track listing
- Israel6:12
- Haunted Heart3:28
- Beautiful Love (take 2)5:04
- Elsa5:10
- Nardis5:49
- How Deep Is the Ocean?3:31
- I Wish I Knew4:39
- Sweet and Lovely5:52
Personnel
- Bill Evans piano
- Scott LaFaro double bass
- Paul Motian drums
- Orrin Keepnews producer
- Bill Stoddard engineer
More from Bill Evans Trio
Portrait in Jazz (1960), Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961), Waltz for Debby (1962)
Sources
- Explorations (Bill Evans album), Wikipedia
- Bill Evans: Explorations, All About Jazz
- Bill Evans discography, Jazz Discography Project