Gil Evans – Gil Evans and Ten (LP, Analogue Productions)

In 1957 Miles Davis, buoyed by the success of his recent collaboration with his old friend Gil Evans, persuaded Prestige Records to give Evans a recording date of his own. Evans went on to produce an album with the brilliance music insiders had known since his days as an arranger for Claude Thornhill in the 1940s and his work on Davis’ Birth of the Cool recordings. Writing for just 11 instruments, Evans used his skill with dynamics, movement and harmonic voicings to create orchestral effects suggesting a much larger orchestra. His settings stimulated his musicians to inspired improvisations. Soloists include trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, saxophonists Steve Lacy and Lee Konitz, and Evans himself, making his debut as a pianist.