When this album was recorded in February of 1961, it had been more than year since the
Portrait in Jazz
was issued, the disc that won the critics over. By the time of this issue,
Evans
had released four albums in six years, a pace unheard of during that time. Most musicians were issuing two, three, and even four records a year during the same era. Many speculate on
' personal problems at the time, but the truth of the matter lies in the recordings themselves, and
Explorations
proves that the artist was worth waiting for no matter what else was going on out there.
, with
Paul Motian
and
Scott LaFaro
, was onto something as a trio, exploring the undersides of melodic and rhythmic constructions that had never been considered by most. For one thing,
resurrects a number of tunes that had been considered hopelessly played out, and literally reinvents them --
"How Deep Is the Ocean"
"Sweet and Lovely."
His harmonic richness that extends the melodic and color palette of these numbers literally revived them from obscurity and brought them back into the canon. He also introduced
"Haunted Heart"
into the
jazz
repertoire, with a wonderfully impressionistic melodic structure, offered space, and depth by the understatement of
Motian
and extension by
LaFaro
's canny use of intervals. Also noteworthy is
Miles Davis
'
"Nardis,"
which
first played on a
Cannonball Adderley
set a couple of years before. The rhythmic workout by the
places
' own playing in a new context, with shorter lines, chopping up the meter, and a series of arpeggios that open the ground for revelatory solo in counterpoint by
.
is an extraordinary example of the reach and breadth of this trio at its peak. ~ Thom Jurek