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Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most forward-thinking orchestrators in jazz history, Canadian composer/arranger Gil Evans upheld an extraordinary career that included arranging for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra and working with Miles Davis on a series of historic albums, including 1957’s Birth of the Cool and Miles Ahead, 1959’s Porgy and Bess, 1960’s Sketches of Spain, and the 1963 collaborative album Quiet Nights. At the encouragement of Davis, the illustrious Prestige Records ultimately granted Evans his own record date — a turn of events that led to the making of the classic 1957 album Gil Evans & Ten. Known for his unconventional use of brass instruments — and for his exquisitely complex and often-challenging arrangements — Evans made his debut as a bandleader on Gil Evans & Ten and assembled a tentet comprised of trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, bass trombonist Bart Varsalona, trumpeters Louis Mucci and John Carisi, and French horn player Willie Ruff, among others. With Evans making his recording debut as a pianist, the lush and innovative album also features Steve Lacy (on soprano saxophone, at a time before John Coltrane had popularized the use of that instrument among modern jazz groups) as well as alto saxophonist Lee Konitz (Evans’ colleague in both the Thornhill and Davis units of the ’40s). Along with original compositions like Evans’ exuberant “Jambangle,” Gil Evans & Ten includes his elegantly inventive reworkings of pieces by such diverse artists as Leadbelly and Leonard Bernstein.