This new collection of
Bill Evans playing standards is culled from his Riverside catalog. The first half concentrates on the first and greatest
Bill Evans Trio with drummer
Paul Motian and bassist
Scott LaFaro, running through beautiful renditions of "Autumn Leaves," "Isn't It Romantic," and "My Foolish Heart," taken from the At Shelly's Mann-Hole date, "All of You" from
Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and "How Deep Is the Ocean." The material on the second half of the album covers
Evans in various settings including three trios. The first is from 1956 with
Teddy Kotick on New Jazz Conceptions (which was pre-
LaFaro), and with
Sam Jones and
Max Roach on
Everybody Digs Bill Evans. The other trio sessions are the first post-
LaFaro dates with new bassist
Chuck Israels from 1962:
How My Heart Sings! and
Moonbeams. The remainder of the material is from a pair of recordings that include 1961's You Know What I Mean with
Cannonball Adderley,
Connie Kay, and
Percy Heath of the
Modern Jazz Quartet, and the famous Interplay Sessions recorded in 1962 with
Freddie Hubbard,
Philly Joe Jones,
Jim Hall, and
Kay. Everything here has been released before, and real
Evans' fans have it all in numerous places. There is something to be said, however, for having an all-standards program that reveals the developing and always innovative approach
Evans was taking to interpreting classic American song in the jazz idiom. ~ Thom Jurek