Bill Evans, Shelly Manne and Monty Budwig had a good thing going here with this album. They created some beautiful, relaxing music on this date, which was to be the trios only recording. Too bad, I would have loved to see them record some more stuff together. The classic Bill Evans trio with Motian and LaFaro is my favorite piano trio of all time. The trio here is pretty damn good I must say. Love the effortless mood in which they play and interact with each other. Much like the previous mentioned classic trio but the main difference for me is the absence of LaFaro, who was a brilliant virtuoso on the double bass, and made that group something special. Budwig plays smooth and sensitive and I love his style as well though. Manne also plays smooth and tasteful and he has become one of my favorite drummers. His drumming abilities never disappoints.
I would highly recommend this session for anyone that enjoys piano trios that adopts interplay on an equal basis and an abundance of lyricism. Where everything flows and blends together into a warm symbiosis, and the music is allowed to exist on a lovely give and take level between all three musicians.
This is another one of those great titles which can be had for a reasonable price, which is my thing at the moment. If you haven’t heard it check it out.
Happy Friday, cheers!