Bill Evans Trio - Portrait In Jazz

CD edition of Bill Evans 'Portrait in Jazz' + 7 bonus tracks with 28-page booklet featuring new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz's Brian Morton and Paris' prestigious publication, Jazz Magazine.

Evans' great innovation was to make the bass player and drummer, in this case, the sublime Paul Motian, equal partners in the music. LaFaro's bass constantly offers countermelodies to the piano lines. Though there are ballad performances as well, this is Evans at his most upbeat, almost joyous. If it lacks the sheer immersiveness of the Village Vanguard date, it is also, much more open, and accessible. - Brian Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz