Bill Evans - How My Heart Sings (Original Jazz Classics Series)

How My Heart Sings! is the brighter, livelier sibling to Bill Evans' Moon Beams, and it returns on 180-gram vinyl as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series.

Both albums came out of the same 1962 sessions at Sound Makers Studio in New York, produced by Orrin Keepnews for Riverside. It was a delicate moment. Evans was rebuilding his trio after the death of bassist Scott LaFaro, and the arrival of Chuck Israels alongside drummer Paul Motian gave the group a new, supple footing. The ballads went to Moon Beams, while the more up-tempo, emotionally buoyant material was held back for this set, which appeared in 1964.

The title track, written by Earl Zindars, floats on a lilting melody that Evans makes sound effortless. Dave Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way becomes a conversation between three equals, each player leaving room for the others. Evans' own 34 Skidoo and Show-Type Tune show off his gifts as a composer, playful and harmonically rich in equal measure.

Israels and Motian listen as closely as they play, and the interplay never tips into showing off. It is the sound of a new trio discovering what it can do.

For anyone who loves the Riverside years, this is a warm, conversational record that keeps revealing new details with every listen.