If you want to luxuriate in jazz, then look no further than the Bill Evans Trio with Claus Ogerman conducting a 48-piece orchestra on the appropriately named Bill Evans Trio With Symphony Orchestra. Released in February 1966, the album was the brainchild of Verve’s A&R Director, Creed Taylor.
Taylor was anxious, as perhaps was Evans, to get some crossover success, and so, in 1963, he recorded an album with Claus Ogerman called Bill Evans Plays The Theme From The V.I.P.’s And Other Great Songs. It included a number of popular movie themes that were released as singles to get that all-important airplay.