Out Of The Cool (1960)

"Released in 1960, this was the first recording Evans issued after 3 albums with Miles Davis. He had learned much from Davis about improvisation, instinct, and space (the trumpeter learned plenty, too, especially about color, texture, and dynamic tension). Evans orchestrates less here, instead concentrating on the rhythm section built around Elvin Jones and Charlie Persip (d), Ron Carter (b) and Ray Crawford (g). The maestro in the piano chair also assembled a crack horn section. The music is of a wondrous variety, bookended by two stellar Evans compositions in "La Nevada," and "Sunken Treasure." The middle is filled out by the lovely standard "Where Flamingos Fly," Weill/Brecht's "Bilbao Song," and George Russell's classic "Stratusphunk." The sonics are alternately warm, breezy, and nocturnal, especially on the 15-plus-minute opener which captures the laid-back West Coast cool jazz feel juxtaposed by the percolating, even bubbling hot rhythmic pulse of the tough streets of Las Vegas." (Thom Yurek, Allmusic)