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1963 Riverside Teal Label Stereo Release of Bandleader/Composer/Pianist Bill Evans Entitled Interplay, Produced by Orrin Keepnews, Liner Notes by Joe Goldberg, Originally Recorded in New York City on July 16 & 17 in 1962 - "Borrowing heavily from the impressionism of  and , pianist Bill Evans brought an introverted, relaxed, and lyrical classical sensibility into jazz. Along with his keen technical ability and nuanced sense of harmony, Evans worked to democratize the role of the bassist and drummer in his succession of piano trios, encouraging greater contrapuntal interplay. After gaining widespread attention as a member of ' late-'50s group, Evans garnered further acclaim for his own work, leading a celebrated trio with bassist  and drummer  and recording classic albums like 1960's , 1961's , and 1962's , the latter of which borrowed its title from the pianist's best-known composition. Following 's tragic death in 1961, Evans eventually forged a lasting creative partnership with bassist  and continued to perform, working with drummers  and . He earned accolades including Grammy Awards for 1968's , 1970's , 1971's , and 1979's . With the passage of time, Evans has become an entire school unto himself for pianists and a singular mood for listeners, leaving his mark on such noted players as , , , and . Born and raised in New Jersey, Evans was recruited for Southeastern Louisiana University on a flute scholarship, where he received a thorough background in theory, played in the marching band, and also led his football team to a league championship as a quarterback. Graduating as a piano major in 1950, he started to tour with the  band, but the draft soon beckoned, and Evans was placed in the Fifth Army Band near Chicago. After three years in the service, he arrived in New York in 1954, playing in 's quartet and undertaking postgraduate studies at Mannes College, where he encountered composer  and his modal jazz theories. By 1956, he had already recorded his first album as a leader for Riverside, New Jazz Conceptions, still enthralled by the bop style of  but also unveiling what was to become his best-known composition, "Waltz for Debby," which he wrote while still in the Army. In spring 1958, Evans began an eight-month gig with the , where he exerted a powerful influence upon the willful yet ever-searching leader. Though Evans left the band that autumn, exhausted by pressured expectations and anxious to form his own group, he was deeply involved in the planning and execution of ' epochal  album in 1959, contributing ideas about mood, structure, and modal improvisation, and collaborating on several of the compositions. Although the original release gave composition credit of "Blue in Green" to , Evans claimed he wrote it entirely, based on two chords suggested by  (nowadays, they receive co-credit). Evans returned to the scene as a leader in December 1958 with the album , which included the famous "Peace Piece," a haunting vamp for solo piano that sounds like a long-lost  Gymnopédie. Evans' first working trio turned out to be his most celebrated, combining forces with the astounding young bassist  and drummer  in three-way telepathic trialogues. With this group, Evans became a star -- and there was even talk about a recording with  involving the entire trio. Sadly, only ten days after a landmark live session at the Village Vanguard in June 1961,  was killed in an auto accident -- and the shattered Evans went into seclusion for almost a year. He re-emerged the following spring with  as his bassist, and he would go on to record duets with guitarist  and a swinging quintet session, , with  and trumpeter . Upon signing with Verve in 1962, Evans was encouraged by producer  to continue to record in more varied formats: with 's big band, the full-orchestra arrangements of , co-star , and a reunion with . The most remarkable of these experiments was , a session where Evans overdubbed second and third piano parts onto the first; this eventually led to two sequels in that fashion. By 1966, Evans had paired with Puerto Rican bassist  and formed a trio with drummer . Though short-lived, the group garnered attention, picking up a Grammy Award for the 1968 concert album . That same year,  left to be replaced by . This version of Evans' trio continued to work for a decade, releasing albums like 1969's  and 1971's Grammy-winning . Evans also picked up a Grammy in 1970 for his solo piano date . In his only concession to the emerging jazz-rock scene, Evans dabbled with the Rhodes electric piano in the 1970s but eventually tired of it, even though inventor Harold Rhodes had tailored the instrument to Evans' specifications. He recorded further trio sessions with  and drummer  before launching a final trio in the late '70s with bassist  and drummer . Often considered one of the pianist's best configurations since the - team, their brief time together was documented on 1979's Grammy-winning , also featuring trumpeter  and saxophonist . By the late '70s, Evans' health was rapidly deteriorating, aggravated by long periods of heroin and cocaine addiction. He died on September 15, 1980, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 51 years old. Along with a 1994 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a flood of unreleased recordings from commercial and private sources helped to further elevate interest in Evans' work.  arrived in 1996, followed by 2000's , recorded at Keystone Korner in 1980. Resonance Records also released three archival albums featuring Evans' late-'60s trio: 2016's , 2018's , and 2020's ." - "Interplay stands as some of Bill Evans' most enigmatic and unusual music in makeup as well as execution. It was recorded in July 1962 with a very young  from , guitarist Jim Hall, bassist , and drummer Philly Joe Jones performing five veteran standards. Evans has a more blues-based approach to playing: harder, edgier, and in full flow, fueled in no small part by Hall, who is at his very best here, swinging hard whether it be a ballad or an uptempo number. Hubbard's playing, on the other hand, was never so restrained as it was here. Using a mute most of the time, his lyricism is revealed to jazz listeners for the first time -- with Art Blakey it was a blistering attack of hard bop aggression. On this program of standards, however, Hubbard slips into them quite naturally without the burden of history -- check his reading and improvisation on "When You Wish Upon a Star." Ironically, it's on the sole original, the title track, where the band in all its restrained, swinging power can be best heard, though the rest is striking finger-popping hard bop jazz, with stellar crystalline beauty in the ballads." - Spectacular Personnel for the Quintet Features Legendary Composer Bill Evans on Piano, the Great Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet, the Brilliant Jim Hall on Guitar, the Talented Percy Heath on Bass and the Amazing Philly Joe Jones on Drums! - Selections On Side 1 Are You the Night and the Music at 7 Minutes 3 Seconds, When You Wish Upon a Star & the Ruth Lowe Song I'll Never Smile Again - Tracks for Side 2 Consist of the Bill Evans Penned Interplay at 8 Minutes 11 Seconds, You Go to My Head and Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - Used Copy, Cover Very Good+, Record Excellent - Stereo Recording, Product Code RS 9445 - California Residents Add 10.25% Sales Tax - International S & H Extra -