Randy Ingram: Sound Within

Everybody digs Bill Evans. Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Evans revolutionized the piano trio format, bringing a near equality of input of the three instruments into the mix. However, the piano itself was still the main voice. Bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian were his running mates. Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside Records, 1961) and Waltz For Debby (Riverside Records, 1962) served as the shots across the bow for the change in the trio approach. Portrait In Jazz (1959) and Explorations (1961), both on Riverside Records, came earlier, with the same trio, but they did not make quite the splash.

Pianist Randy Ingram digs Bill Evans more than most. He speaks of riding in a car in high school and hitting the repeat button on the Waltz For Debby' CD to listen to "My Foolish Heart" over and over again. On his Sound Within, Ingram has captured the pure beauty of the Evans approach, beginning with the Evans-penned "Turn Out The Stars" and that car ride experience, "My Foolish Heart." Many modern piano trios nod to Evans. Nobody has done it better than Ingram has withSound Within.

"It's not the way he plays, or the devices he uses," Ingram says of Evans."it's the sound of the piano, and that's something that comes from deep inside. So I made sure to hone in on my own sound for this album."

It is hard to put into words the effervescent, often brooding majesty of Evans' sound. The same can be said Ingram and his trio's "Sound Within," starting with the Evans-penned "Turn Out The Stars" and a steadfast Evans vehicle, "For All We Know" or Evans' "Letter To Evan" and George Russell's "Ezz-Thetics." Ingram also offers up his own compositional tips of the hat to Evans with his originals "Aloft" and "Sound Within." 

It is worth noting that there are tie-ins to Evans here. The set's bassist, Rufus Reid, played in Evan's trio in 1978, in engagements at the Village Vanguard and the Jazz Workshop in Boston. And drummer Joe La Barbera played in Evan's last trio in 1979, participating in the pianist's The Paris Concert, Engagement One and The Paris Concert, Edition Two, both on Elektra//Asylum Records, released in 1979 and 1984, respectively. 

Sound Within captures the spirit of Bill Evans, Randy Ingram's deep and heartfelt tribute to one of his major inspirations.