Trio '65

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Trio '65 | type = studio | artist = The Bill Evans Trio | cover = Trio65.jpg | alt = | released = June 1965 | recorded = February 3, 1965 | studio = Van Gelder, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey | genre = Jazz | length = 37:29 | label = Verve | producer = Creed Taylor | prev_title = Waltz for Debby | prev_year = 1964 | next_title = Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra | next_year = 1965 }}

'''''Trio '65''''' is a studio album by the American jazz pianist Bill Evans and his trio, released by Verve in 1965.

==Background== After rebounding from the death of Scott LaFaro in 1961, Evans had reached a high point in his career at the time of this recording, having won critical accolades and a Grammy Award for the experimental overdubbed album ''Conversations with Myself'' (1963) and having finally out-polled Oscar Peterson in the 1964 ''DownBeat'' readers' poll. His success, however, was leading to some pushback by detractors such as ''DownBeat'' critic John S. Wilson and avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor, and behind the scenes he was struggling with his heroin habit.<ref name=Sh118to119>Shadwick, Keith. ''Bill Evans: Everything Happens to Me'', Backbeat Books, 2002, pp. 118–119.</ref>

Pianist Clare Fischer had recommended Larry Bunker, an in-demand studio drummer and vibraphonist, as a replacement for the departed Paul Motian, and when Bunker had sat in with Evans and bassist Chuck Israels, "Bill grinned broadly ... and Larry was hired on the spot."<ref>Israels, Chuck. Liner notes, ''Bill Evans Trio at Shelly's Manne-Hole'', Riverside, 1963.</ref> Bunker was well prepared for this job, as he said he had been listening to "almost no one else" except Evans for "the last five years."<ref>Pettinger, Peter. ''Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings'', Yale University Press, 1998, p. 156.</ref> However, his tenure with the trio turned out to be relatively brief{{mdash}}less than two years{{mdash}}and ended shortly after this album was recorded. Evans had to be hospitalized for drug abuse and malnutrition, leading to the cancellation of a two-week gig at the Plugged Nickel in Chicago, which prompted Bunker to quit the trio.<ref>Pettinger, p. 167.</ref> Evans would struggle to retain a drummer until Marty Morell joined the trio in 1968.<ref>Pettinger, p. 191.</ref>

==Repertoire== Evans had previously recorded seven of the eight selections on this album, which led to some disappointment in its reception.<ref name=Pett160>Pettinger, p. 160.</ref><ref name=Sh118to119 /> The one new number was the recent Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley hit, "Who Can I Turn To?", which became a permanent part of Evans' repertoire.<ref>[https://www.jazzdisco.org/bill-evans/discography/ "Bill Evans Discography"]. JazzDisco.org, Accessed June 1, 2025.</ref> Peter Pettinger notes: "This kind of showtune satisfied Evans's sense of form, its solid, thirty-two-bar construction harnessing melody and harmony toward a heart-filling climax."<ref name=Pett160 />

==Reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 =AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web |first=Scott |last=Yanow |title= ''Trio '65'' > Review |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id= r138463 |pure_url=yes}} |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=June 28, 2011}}</ref> |rev2 = ''Down Beat'' |rev2Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>''Down Beat'': July 15, 1965, vol. 32, no. 15.</ref> | rev3 = ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' | rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}<ref name="Penguin">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=457}}</ref> }} Writing for AllMusic, music critic Scott Yanow said of the album: "Although all eight of the selections heard on this Verve release have been recorded on other occasions by pianist Bill Evans, these renditions hold their own."<ref name="AM" />

Keith Shadwick observes, "The trio works very closely together and shows all the attention to dynamics and overall coherence that one would expect from a group led by [Evans], but nothing remarkable happens. It is simply the now-familiar Evans treatment of a bunch of well-known tunes .... A possible exception to this well-worn air is Tadd Dameron's 'If You Could See Me Now', which receives a slow and rapturous treatment packed full of feeling."<ref name=Sh118to119 />

==Track listing== # "Israel" (John Carisi) – 4:49 # "Elsa" (Earl Zindars) – 4:22 # {{"-}}'Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams) – 6:42 # "Our Love Is Here to Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 4:02 # "How My Heart Sings" (Earl Zindars) – 2:49 # "Who Can I Turn To?" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) – 4:53 # "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 5:26 # "If You Could See Me Now" (Tadd Dameron, Carl Sigman) – 4:47

==Personnel== *Bill Evans – piano *Larry Bunker – drums *Chuck Israels – bass

==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+ 2022 chart performance for ''Trio '65'' ! scope="col"| Chart (2022) ! scope="col"| Peak<br />position |- {{album chart|Flanders|128|artist=Bill Evans Trio|album=Trio '65|rowheader=true|access-date=June 26, 2022}} |- {{album chart|Germany|38|id=499063|artist=Bill Evans Trio|album=Trio '65|rowheader=true|access-date=June 24, 2022}} |- {{album chart|Switzerland|42|artist=Bill Evans Trio|album=Trio '65|rowheader=true|access-date=June 26, 2022}} |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090204010554/http://www.billevans.net/bill2.html The Bill Evans Memorial Library] *[http://www.jazzdisco.org/bill-evans/catalog/ Bill Evans discography at Jazz Discography]

Category:Bill Evans albums Category:1965 albums Category:Albums produced by Creed Taylor Category:Verve Records albums