DESCRIPTION:
Moon Beams is a 1962 album by jazz musician Bill Evans, and the first trio album recorded by Evans after the death of Scott LaFaro. With Chuck Israels on bass taking the place of LaFaro, Evans recorded several songs during these May and June 1962 sessions. Moon Beams contains a collection of ballads recorded during this period. The more uptempo tunes were put on How My Heart Sings!. In 2012, it was released a new remastered edition which includes three previously unreleased alternate takes.

Personnel: Bill Evans (p) Chuck Israels (b) Paul Motian (dr)
Released: Mid December 1962
Recorded: May 17, 1962 (#5,9) May 29, 1962 (#1, 8) June 2, 1962 (#2-4, 6-7) June 5, 1962 (#10-11)
Label: Riverside RLP-428
Producer: Orrin Keepnews

"Re: Person I Knew" (Bill Evans)
"Polka Dots and Moonbeams" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)
"I Fall in Love Too Easily" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne)
"Stairway to the Stars" (Matty Malneck, Mitchell Parish)
"If You Could See Me Now" (Tadd Dameron)
"It Might as Well Be Spring" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
"In Love in Vain" (Leo Robin, Jerome Kern)
"Very Early" (Bill Evans)

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Thom Jurek wrote of the album "...selections are so well paced and sequenced the record feels like a dream... Moonbeams was a startling return to the recording sphere and a major advancement in his development as a leader."