Gil Evans’ second album as a leader features his reworking of eight jazz classics including “St. Louis Blues,” “Lester Leaps In” and “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue.” Evans’ charts utilize three trumpets, three trombones, a french horn, a prominent tuba, one reed player, altoist Cannonball Adderley and a four-piece rhythm section. Most memorable is a classic rendition of “King Porter Stomp” featuring the exuberant altoist Cannonball Adderley, who is the main soloist on most of the selections. Other key voices include Evans’ piano, guitarist Chuck Wayne and trumpeter Johnny Coles. This is near-classic music that showed that Gil Evans did not need Miles Davis as a soloist to inspire him to greatness.

A1. St. Louis Blues
A2. King Porter Stomp
A3. Willow Tree
A4. Struttin’ With Some Barbeque

B1. Lester Leaps In
B2. ‘Round About Midnight
B3. Manteca
B4. Bird Feathers