Ah, but who is ‘Beauty’, who the ‘Beast’? Originally written for another muscular sax man, Dave Liebman, who first performed Tommy Smith's monster suite in 2001, this ferocious live release hardly suffers for having Bill Evans roar and soar in typical bumptious style. Evans has a ball throughout, kicking off in fifth gear and never relenting through the seven-part suite until it breathlessly climaxes 50 minutes later. Of course it isn't all biff bang propulsion and even amid the most supercharged of tracks, the SNJO keeps control, as you'd expect under Smith's steely command. Beneath it all the rhythm section strives manfully, and they rocket launch ‘Part 3’ with their own feature so a special mention for Steve Hamilton (piano), Kevin Glasgow (bass) and a tireless Alyn Cosker (drums). But of course it's Evans who hijacks the show: Liebman may have brought a wider range of sonorities, but for pyrotechnic energy Evans is hard to beat. What a beastie boy he is.