Recorded three days before the end of 1959, and usually omitted from the seminal albums of that year, Portrait In Jazz continues to grow in stature. As with any record which made an indelible impact, you think you remember all the details but, as with anything so good, there are always new aspects to notice. This was the moment when Evans had his lyrical and his energetic sides in perfect balance, no doubt inspired by the discovery of the empathetic LaFaro. Most of the interplay comes from the bassist's free-thinking ‘accompaniment’ of the piano, but occasionally it's the other way around. The original LP closed with a trio take of ‘Blue In Green’, so it makes sense that it's followed here by the Kind of Blue version, to show how similar the two conceptions were. You can almost forgive the omission of Portrait's two alternate takes (one of ‘Blue In Green’ and one of ‘Autumn Leaves’) but at least they included the better take of ‘Leaves’. Even more revealing is the inclusion of a four-track airshot from four months later, whose ‘Leaves’ has even more Evans-LaFaro dialogue than the studio versions.