This is the second album under Pike's own name, and interest in it centres primarily around the fact that the pick-up band includes pianist Bill Evans. Pike was a very good vibes player who had the misfortune to arrive on the scene at about the same time as a phenomenal one in Gary Burton. Recorded in 1962, when Pike was 24, this pick-up date works well, the energy of Pike echoed by the contributions of Evans in Bud Powell single note mode, leaving the more rhapsodic flourishes to climax his solos. This blowing date presents Evans with a 12-bar ‘Vierd Blues’, that shows him a master of the idiom – something many have accused him of not being able to do simply because he did not do it that often. Pike had a streak of adventurousness that gradually gained momentum in the rock era, with electrified vibes and an approach influenced by the psychedelic era. In 1969 he would come into his own when he moved to Germany, forming a quartet with guitarist Volker Kriegal that was like the Gary Burton Quartet with Larry Coryell on acid. Making six albums for the MPS label – this short lived group was wound up in 1972 – it is here we would turn for the high-spot of this interesting, if somewhat neglected, vibist's career.