Bill Evans Trio - Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (Remastered) (2025) [CD-Rip]

Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings brings together the complete studio recordings by the Bill Evans Trio featuring Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian. Included are the albums Portrait in Jazz and Explorations, plus 26 alternate takes - 17 previously unreleased.

AllMusic Review by Matt Collar
The 2025 anthology Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings includes the first two influential studio albums by pianist Bill Evans' legendary trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. One of the most influential jazz groups of all time, the Evans/LaFaro/Motian lineup has taken on an almost mythic quality. Formed mere months after the pianist completed the sessions for Miles Davis' landmark 1959 album Kind of Blue, the trio was an instant sensation, their work (much like Davis' album) helping to redefine the sound of modern jazz. Much of this was due to Evans' singular approach to the piano, marked by his use of classical-influenced impressionistic harmonies, rootless voicings, and singing melodic lines. However, with LaFaro's equally distinctive melodic bass lines and Motian's elastic sense of swing, he created a new kind of trio, where each member played together in a conversational way, rather than as simple accompaniment for the pianist. Released in 1960, Portrait in Jazz introduced the trio's subtle interplay, and their renditions of standards like "Witchcraft," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "Someday My Prince Will Come" (the latter preceding Miles Davis' version by a year) remain some of the most definitive versions put to record. The same is true of 1961's Explorations, which featured their deeply romantic rendition of "Haunted Heart" (a jazz piano staple ever since) and found them putting their own stamp on Davis songs like "Nardis" and "Israel."

While completists my quibble that the trio's two live albums, 1961's Sunday at the Village Vanguard and 1962's Waltz for Debby, are not included here, the focus on the studio recordings offers some revelations. Along with both studio albums, there are 26 alternates and outtakes, 17 of which are previously unreleased. While many of Evans' outtakes are often very similar in-studio, there are some surprising moments, as in his previously unreleased "Spring Is Here" off Portrait, which features a more extended, improvised intro into the melody. Similarly, from the Explorations sessions, we get to hear each of his attempts at the dancerly ascending motif that kicks off "Sweet and Lovely," each as virtuosic and edge-of-your-seat brilliant as the next. It's also fascinating to hear how clearly worked out, if not outright arranged, the trio's interplay was. It's something that becomes ever more clear as you listen to multiple versions of "Witchcraft," where you can hear LaFaro playing similar counter melodies against Evans' lead lines again and again with minor variation. Tragically, LaFaro's death in a car crash in 1961 ended the group's brilliant run almost as soon as it started. While Evans would go on to form two more influential trios, his classic lineup with LaFaro and Motian remained indelible, and Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings underscores that lasting influence.

Tracklist
CD1
Portrait in Jazz (Stereo)
01. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 5, Album Master) (3:23)
02. Autumn Leaves (Take 13, Stereo Album Master) (6:00)
03. Witchcraft (Take 5, Album Master) (4:35)
04. When I Fall in Love (Take 2, Album Master) (4:58)
05. Peri's Scope (Take 2, Album Master) (3:17)
06. What Is This Thing Called Love (Take 4, Album Master) (4:35)
07. Spring Is Here (Take 6, Album Master) (5:07)
08. Someday My Prince Will Come (Take 5, Album Master) (4:56)
09. Blue in Green (Take 3, Album Master) (5:26)
Alternate Takes from the Portrait in Jazz Session (Mono)
10. Witchcraft (Take 4, Alternate) (4:50)
11. Witchcraft (Take 6, Alternate) (4:55)
12. Spring Is Here (Take 4, Alternate) (4:54)
13. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 2, Alternate) (3:30)
14. Come Rain or Come Shine (Take 4, Alternate) (3:19)

CD2
Alternate Takes from the Portrait in Jazz Session (Mono) cont.
01. Autumn Leaves (Take 9, Mono Album Master) (5:25)
02. Blue in Green (Take 1, Alternate) (4:38)
03. Blue in Green (Take 2, Alternate) (4:30)
04. Someday My Prince Will Come (Take 1, Alternate) (5:09)
Explorations (Stereo)
05. Israel (Take 1, Album Master) (6:12)
06. Haunted Heart (Take 3, Album Master) (3:28)
07. Beautiful Love (Take 2, Album Master) (5:07)
08. Elsa (Take 5, Album Master) (5:12)
09. Nardis (Take 2, Album Master) (5:51)
10. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 3, Album Master) (3:34)
11. I Wish I Knew (Take 4, Album Master) (4:41)
12. Sweet and Lovely (Take 4, Album Master) (5:57)
Alternate Takes from the Explorations Session (Stereo)
13. Elsa (Take 4, Alternate) (5:04)
14. Elsa (Take 6, Alternate) (4:52)
15. Sweet and Lovely (Take 3, Alternate) (5:56)
16. Sweet and Lovely (Take 5, Alternate) (5:38)

CD3
Alternate Takes and Outtakes from the Explorations Session (Stereo)
01. Sweet and Lovely (Take 6, Alternate) (5:44)
02. Nardis (Take 1, Alternate) (6:18)
03. Beautiful Love (Take 1, Alternate) (6:07)
04. I Wish I Knew (Take 2, Alternate) (5:11)
05. I Wish I Knew (Take 3, Alternate) (4:59)
06. I Wish I Knew (Take 5, Alternate) (4:51)
07. Haunted Heart (Take 2, Alternate) (4:43)
08. The Boy Next Door (Take 1, Outtake) (6:24)
09. The Boy Next Door (Take 4, Outtake) (5:06)
10. The Boy Next Door (Take 6, Outtake) (5:10)
11. Walking Up (Take 1, Outtake) (5:01)
12. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 1, Alternate) (4:11)
13. How Deep Is the Ocean (Take 2, Alternate) (3:47)