Description
Bill Evans Trio – On A Friday Evening – Double 180 Gram Vinyl Records
Live at Oil Can Harry’s, June 20, 1975.
The previously unreleased concert took place on June 20, 1975, at Oil Can Harry’s, Vancouver, BC. Captured for radio host Gary Barclay, it was aired on his popular CHQM jazz show. For nearly half a century, the tapes lay forgotten – until now. Thanks to audio restoration by Plangent Processes and meticulous mastering by Paul Blakemore, it sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1975.
On A Friday Evening is a previously unreleased live album by the legendary Bill Evans Trio, recorded on June 20, 1975, at Oil Can Harry’s, a small but vibrant club in Vancouver, British Columbia. The album wasn’t released until 2021 by Craft Recordings, making it a significant archival find for jazz fans and especially for admirers of Evans’s elegant, deeply introspective style.
This performance captures Evans during a transitional yet creatively vital period in his career. The trio featured on this date includes:
Bill Evans – piano
Eddie Gómez – bass
Eliot Zigmund – drums
At the time, Evans had recently begun working with Zigmund, following the departure of drummer Marty Morell. This lineup had only been together for a few months, but the chemistry is already remarkable, particularly in the way Gómez—Evans’s longtime bassist—interacts with both the pianist and the relatively new drummer. The result is a live set that feels both relaxed and searching, filled with the kind of nuanced, conversational interplay that defined Evans’s greatest trios.
The setlist is a blend of standards, ballads, and Evans originals, including:
“Sareen Jurer” – a less common Evans composition, performed with grace and rhythmic complexity
“Sugar Plum” – a modal, slightly funky number that shows the trio’s dynamic range
“Quiet Now” – a meditative, lyrical ballad that Evans had long cherished
“How Deep Is the Ocean” – a standard rendered with deep harmonic sensitivity
“Blue Serge” – a Tadd Dameron tune that highlights Evans’s command of bebop vocabulary
“Nardis” – the Miles Davis-penned modal piece that became a late-career Evans staple, often used as a launching pad for extended trio exploration
“The Two Lonely People” – a melancholy, beautifully phrased ballad
“T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)” – an angular, modern piece that reflects Evans’s interest in classical forms and chromaticism
The album’s sound quality—remastered from the original analog tapes—is surprisingly intimate and clear for a club recording from the mid-70s, allowing listeners to hear the subtleties in Evans’s touch and phrasing, as well as the delicate dynamics between the trio members.
What makes On A Friday Evening special is its unfiltered, in-the-moment energy. Unlike studio albums, where Evans’s work could feel pristine and controlled, this live session has a looseness that’s refreshing—the trio stretches out, responds in real time, and embraces the unpredictability of live jazz. It’s a snapshot of an evening of music made for the moment, where even familiar songs sound newly discovered.
On A Friday Evening is not just an archival curiosity—it’s a vital document of Bill Evans’s late-period brilliance, offering both casual listeners and devoted fans an intimate, swinging, and emotionally rich listening experience. It reaffirms Evans’s place as a master of harmonic expression and trio interplay, still innovating and listening deeply, even on an unassuming Friday night.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Sareen Jurer
Sugar Plum
The Two Lonely People
.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)
Quiet Now
Up With The Lark
How Deep Is The Ocean
Blue Serge
Nardis
