Gil Evans Gil Evans & Ten (Analogue Productions Prestige) 180g LP

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Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3

In 1957, Miles Davis, high on the success of his recent collaborations with his old friend Gil Evans, persuaded Prestige Records to give Evans his own record date. Evans packed the resulting album with the brilliance that music insiders had recognized since his days as an arranger for Claude Thornhill in the 1940s and his work on Davis' Birth of the Cool recordings. Writing for only 11 instruments, Evans used his wizardry with dynamics, motion and harmonic voicings to create orchestral effects suggesting a substantially larger orchestra. His settings stimulated his musicians to inspired improvisation. Among the soloists are trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, saxophonists Steve Lacy and Lee Konitz, and Evans himself, making his first recorded appearance as a pianist.

Remastered by Kevin Gray and impeccably pressed at QRP, the sound is excellent. Tonally rich and warm, but not overly fat or golden, with an airy and expansive soundstage in which the main instruments occupy the front section, layering back to the supporting players, with the drums and bass (mostly) at rear. The horns, especially, are creamy-lush, drums have plenty of snap, and there's a terrific sense of balance and completeness to the whole.