Music Reviews: Modal Jazz

Music review of the 2025 Craft Recordings reissue of the introspective Bill Evans Trio album Moon Beams with Paul Motian and Chuck Israels. Motian and the late Scott LaFaro were in the famous trio that recorded with Riverside just before Moon Beams was recorded.

As part of their OJC Series, this brand new Craft Recordings reissue of Moon Beams is pressed at RTI on 180-gram vinyl with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.  

Bill Evans in Norway is a double album with a never before heard recording of an excellent 1970 concert from the Kongsberg Jazz festival featuring the Evans trio with bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Marty Morell.

This recently re-pressed set of Nathan Davis live in Paris recordings should help create a new following for this somewhat overlooked American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator who turned down a Blue Note contract and an offer to join Art Blakey's group, remaining in Paris during the turbulent 1960s.