Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Original Jazz Classics Series) 180g LP

Analog Planet Rated 11/10 Music, 9/10 Sound!

The first of two albums recorded at the legendary final appearance of the Bill Evans Trio at the Village Vanguard, these recordings have long been recognized as capturing the unique interaction that characterized the trio of Evans, LaFaro and Motian. This new edition of Sunday at the Village Vanguard is released as part of the OJC Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It is presented in a Tip-On Jacket.

Since its inception in 1982, Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics® (OJC) series quickly established a reputation as the go-to imprint for collectible jazz reissues. OJC served as a home for the label's impressive jazz catalog – which had grown to include thousands of celebrated titles from Prestige, Galaxy, Milestone, Riverside, Debut, Contemporary, Jazzland, and Pablo. Drawing on this vast wealth of material, Original Jazz Classics released over 850 titles.

Its goal was simple: to reissue influential jazz albums with the utmost care and reverence for the originals — from the cover art and liner notes to the audio recordings themselves. Given Craft Recordings' shared passion for meticulous preservation and quality, it is a natural step to relaunch Original Jazz Classics as part of the Craft family.

2023 sees the continuation of this influential jazz series on audiophile-quality vinyl, through the ongoing release of several of the most coveted (and long out-of-print) albums in this vast collection.

Bill Evans Trio's Sunday at the Village Vanguard is indeed a legendary album finally being given its proper due with a high-quality, historically reverential reissue that won't break the average record collector's budget.