Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans (Joplin & Sweeney Music Company), by the Jim Witzel Quartet, is the latest tribute to one of the greatest pianists of all-time. Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, Union County, and died in 1980 at 51, a victim of his own excess. But before he killed himself with drugs, he was known for his complex melodic inventions, influential, introspective, innovative. His lyrical romanticism made what would become the biggest-selling jazz album of all-time, Kind Of Blue, in 1959, with the sextet of Miles Davis.

There was always something special about internationally-revered piano man Bill Evans. He was especially popular in Scandinavia, Paris, London and South America. Was it the fact that his voicings included snippets from the great classical composers? Or was it that this Jersey Boy, born in 1929 Plainfield, added so much when he was in the band of Miles Davis to record the best-selling jazz album of all time, Kind Of Blue?

Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, Union County, in 1929. He is generally perceived as being the most influential piano player of the 1960s, as his brilliant use of impressionist harmony, block chording and innovative rhythmic complexity directly influenced Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and all who followed. Now pianist Michael Wolff, drummer Mike Clark and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey—known collectively as Wolff Clark Dorsey—have written ‘A Letter To Bill Evans,’ released on the Jazz Avenue 1 label.