Blues in Orbit  Enja***

Recorded on the cusp of the 1970s, this was a pointer from Evans to the jazz-rock fusion that became so controversial in jazz. It's an odd album, set in no single stylistic approach.

Billy Harper's Thoroughbred, with the composer on tenor and Joe Beck's Hendrix- like guitar, and the Davis/Evans, densely textured General Assembly are jazz-rock typically seasoned with dissonance. Others are brief sketches, strikingly dissimilar, that explore either sounds ( Spaced) or moods ( Proclamationand So Long, the latter Evans's in memoriam for Coltrane). And for all the sense that Evans is in control and getting what he wants from the musicians, there's an interim, unfinished feel to the music, reinforced by the occasional loose ensembles and frequent fades. The most satisfying work, despite its density, remains Evans's reworking of George Russell's Blues in Orbit. www.enja records.com