Weekend Listen: Bill Evans, Portrait at The Penthouse Live in Seattle 1966

Weekend Listen: Just took this gem for a first spin...we were in Santa Fe over Thanksgiving and in between a glut of amazing art from SITE SANTA FE to the galleries along Canyon Road & great food, I stumbled on a super hip record store, Lost Padre Records. After securing some tasty used bits from Art Blakey and Clifford Brown, I spied a first and new issue, Bill Evans Portrait at The Penthouse, and had to have it.

The Penthouse Jazz Club was only open in Seattle for a short time from the 60s into the early 70s but, like Seattle at that time, punched way above its weight and hosted most of the greats - I've spun a few cuts on The Bus in past months from The Penthouse issues, including the great Horace Silver.

I had a great dialogue with the owner at Lost Padre on my way out, talking about how Evans had lost his incomparable bassist, Scott LaFaro to a car accident a few years prior to this recording - LaFaro, like Clifford Brown, did not live to see his 26th birthday. LaFaro's death really broke Evans and many say he was never the same, also losing the third leg of that incredible trio, Paul Motian, as the band broke up.

The trio on this album, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Joe Hunt on drums, is amazing and had the empathy and spacing of a trio that had been together for a decade. Gomez ended up being Evans' longest tenured bassist lasting until 1977. Funny fact, I was born just a couple weeks before this was recorded!

Tune into Mateo's Magic Bus this Thursday where I'll be spinning not only cuts of this vinyl, plus more incredible jazz + blues-infused music. We'll also have on a special guest, Eric Foss, head of Secret Stash Records.

Enjoy the weekend & rock on!

DJ Mateo