Fifty years after it was originally released, we can still debate whether Bill Evans' definitive Portrait in Jazz (1959, Riverside) represents monumental ego or humility.

Why would Evans' self-Portrait mainly consist of well-traveled standards and classics? Was he suggesting that a good pianist could discover new, unique perspectives even in such hallowed tunes? Or that this music provides a palette, broad and full of bold colors, sufficient for good pianists to paint their own self-expression? We'll never know, but it seems worth wondering.

Coming to Portrait, I learned that this was the first album Evans recorded with his most famous trio, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. I was prepared to have my mind blown by head-spinning runs, torrential downpours of melody, from Evans and LaFaro. "Witchcraft" and two versions of "Autumn Leaves," the original plus a bonus alternate thanks to the Keepnews Collection edition, did not disappoint.

But I was not as prepared to have my heartstrings played so eloquently. In "When I Fall in Love," Evans' unsparing introspection burns a white-hot hole through himself. Three different takes of "Blue in Green" seem to frame every note perfectly, each in its time, pausing to wonder at life's pain then to nurse and heal it. Hearing him sound so vibrant, almost lusty, and essential makes it almost impossible to believe that Bill Evans' Portrait in Jazz is more or less half a century old.

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