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For nearly half a century, the tapes lay forgotten — until now. Thanks to audio restoration by Plangent Processes and mastering by Paul Blakemore, it sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1975. On a Friday Evening is an engaging and deeply intimate album that finds pianist Bill Evans and his trio in performance at Oil Can Harry's in Vancouver, British Columbia. Recorded by radio host Gary Barclay, the album was initially broadcast on Barclay's CHQM jazz show before languishing unheard for the next 40 years. Fully restored, this 2021 archival release finds Evans backed by one of his best latter-career rhythm sections featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund. Radio broadcasts of live concerts were not unheard of in the '60s and '70s, and On a Friday Evening works as a nice companion album to the similar 2017 radio restoration On a Monday Evening, which featured the same lineup and some of the same tunes.

That said, On a Friday Evening is an even better sounding restoration and truly represents the intricate group dynamics and virtuosity they'd developed on tour together. While Gomez had been with Evans since 1968, the trio's warm and enveloping style becomes even more impressive when you realize that drummer Zigmund was barely into his first year with the pianist when they hit the stage at Oil Can Harry's in June of 1975. Together, they play with a lithe focus that balances Evans' close-eyed intensity with moments of lively, contrapuntal group interplay. Particularly enrapturing is their take on "Sugar Plum," which Evans kicks off by himself, anchoring his twirling right-hand lines with steady left-hand chords before Gomez takes his own lyrical solo. We also get equally inspired renditions of such Evans' favorites as "Sareen Jurer," "Quiet Now," and "How Deep Is the Ocean." — via AllMusic

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Label: Craft Recordings 
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, 180g
Released: 2021
Genre: Jazz
Style: Modal

File under: Audiophile Jazz
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