JAZZ COLLECTOR

Even though there's been a veritable glut of previously unissued BILL EVANS live recordings in recent years, his devotees won't complain about another hitherto unavailable archival release.

- Charles Waring

Further Ahead: Live In Finland 1964-1969 (★★★★ Elemental Music) presents performances from three different incamations of the Evans trio captured in Helsinki and Tampere between 1964 and 1969. Bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Lany Bunker give way to Niels-Henning @rsted Pedersen with Alan Dawson, followed by Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell. Despite the different personnel, the quality of the musicians’ interactions with Evans is uniformly excellent; each trio significantly presents its unique sonic characteristics.

Evans was a seminal influence on CHICK COREA, who went on to forge a distinctive individual style. Corea is remembered by many for his electric jazz-rock exploits with Retum To Forever, the band he formed in 1972. A year before that, Corea joined ECM Records to record Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (★★★★ ECM), now reissued as part of the label's outstanding Luminessence vinyl series. Consisting of 13 extemporised pieces, the album highlights Corea’s fecund musical imagination and skillful spontaneous composition.

Another stunning, and altogether funkier, solo piano album is Musa: Ancestral Streams (★★★★ Strata-East) by the late STANLEY COWELL, who together with trumpeter Charles Tolliver founded the influential jazz label Strata-East in 1971. First released in 1974, the long-out-of:print album — defined by cascading right-hand runs and lush chords — is available in the first wave of Strata-East reissues resulting from a partnership with the Mack Avenue label. Listen out for the mellow groove Travelin’ Man, where Cowell switches to electric piano.