Bill Evans "New Jazz Conceptions" LP

Bill Evans' debut album New Jazz Conceptions is easily one of the influential pianist's greatest releases. The recording features Evans as leader of a tight trio with bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Paul Motian, the rhythm section following Evans' intricates shifts of key, scale, and timecode, and allowing Evans enough space for the unaccompanied piano solos that really show what he was capable of, especially on the version of "Waltz For Debby" included here -- a top-notch rendition of the most famous of all his compositions. The best way of understanding all that Evans would later accomplish is to start with a close listen to this sublime source.