Miles Davis's 1959 Kind of Blue is rightly regarded as among the greatest and most influential of jazz albums, but it would not have gained that reputation if the trumpeter hadn't insisted on hiring the classically-trained Evans as his pianist. It was Evans who set down the impressionistic chord sequences that give the album its extraordinary Zen-like mood and that allow Davis, Coltrane and Adderley to take flight; and it's Evans's playing that gives focus and shape to their improvisations.
The pianist went on to make memorable chamber jazz (notably in the legendary trio sessions at New York's Village Vanguard), but his persistent drug habit finally did for him in 1980, when he was only 51 years old. Happily, he left a marvellous recorded legacy. Peter Pettinger, a notable classical pianist, has produced an exemplary and beautifully written biography that tells you much about Evans the man and even more about Evans the artist.