Gordon Beck is a British pianist who was a devotee of the late Bill Evans, a major jazz figure of the mid-20th century. And he arranged this Brewhouse concert in Evans' honour.

Bill Evans played with Miles Davis and was part of the birth of the Cool-School of jazz, personified by such groups and performers as Dave Brubeck and the Modern Jazz Quartet. They took the edge off be-bop; brought jazz from Harlem into the Ivy-League colleges.

'Tributes' to performers of any kind are usually lukewarm and innefectual affairs, which raise the question - why aren't we listening to the real thing?

But this group, led by Gordon Beck, performs more than pastiches. Their jazz has a real improvisational quality and is clearly quite original, referring to the original rather than blatantly copying from it. Lovers of the 'cool-school' of jazz will enjoy.

This Warner Vision doco from 1991 is captured with fine video image and clear and precise stereo sound. It's a shame there aren't more concerts recorded with this quality sound and image.

Web access is provided, along with biographies of the performers and thumbnail sketches of the individual musical numbers. All that's missing is Bill Evans himself...