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Riverside · 1960

Portrait in Jazz

Bill Evans

Recorded: December 28, 1959   Original cat#: RLP 12-315 / RLP 1162
Bill Evans — Portrait in Jazz album cover

Portrait in Jazz was recorded December 28, 1959 at Reeves Sound Studios in New York City, produced by Orrin Keepnews. Released in 1960 as Riverside RLP 12-315 (mono) and RLP 1162 (stereo), this was the first of only two studio albums Bill Evans recorded with the trio that would become his most celebrated – bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian – eight months before LaFaro's death. Notably, the mono and stereo pressings feature genuinely different takes of "Autumn Leaves," not just a different mix of the same performance.

This is an early-stereo-era trio recording where imaging choices from 1959–60 read as unusual by modern standards. Stereophile's review of the Analogue Productions Riverside box describes the stereo image here as "open and dynamic, though imaging is vague," attributed to channel-bleeding or the era's tendency to spread instruments hard across the soundstage rather than to any specific reissue's shortcomings.

Best early pressing for audiophiles: Riverside RLP 12-315 (mono) / RLP 1162 (stereo) – 1960 original pressing, deep groove blue labels, no "Inc." after "Bill Grauer Productions."

Best modern pressing for audiophiles: genuinely contested among three legitimate options – the Mobile Fidelity One-Step, the Analogue Productions 45rpm cut, and an Electric Recording Company stereo pressing – see the note below before assuming any one is a clear winner.

Best-value modern: Orpheum reissue (c. 1966–68) – first US reissue after Orpheum Productions acquired Riverside; no standalone Discogs release ID confirmed, see note below.

A note on the three competing modern reissues

Reviewer accounts genuinely conflict here, so I'm presenting the disagreement rather than picking a winner. A detailed video comparison (45 RPM Audiophile, "How Good Is The Bill Evans Riverside Box? Portrait In Jazz vs. MoFi vs. ERC") directly compared all three and reported the Mobile Fidelity One-Step as the noisiest of the three despite its low-noise "Super Vinyl," with the piano sounding disconnected from the rest of the trio and comparatively lacking in detail – the reviewer speculated this might trace to the One-Step's DSD256 digital intermediate step, though couldn't confirm that as the cause. The same reviewer called the Analogue Productions 45rpm cut the clear winner over the MoFi on that specific comparison, and described the Electric Recording Company stereo pressing as warmer and more subtle than either, without landing on an outright favorite between AP and ERC.

This is not universal, though: multiple Discogs owner reviews of the MoFi One-Step describe it very positively (dead quiet, exceptional detail, "concert hall stereo separation"), and a separate Discogs review of the ERC stereo pressing independently praised it as superior to the original Riverside stereo cut and awarded it "silver medal" behind an unspecified top pick. Take the specific claim about MoFi noise/EQ as one credible but not universally corroborated account, not a settled verdict – pressing-to-pressing and system-to-system variation is real, especially for a One-Step limited to 6,000 copies.

A note on the Orpheum reissue

I was not able to confirm a standalone Discogs release ID for the Orpheum-era reissue (c. 1966–68), only detailed prose descriptions from collector sources (LondonJazzCollector). The Discogs column for that row is left blank rather than guessing at a release number.

Pressing tier summary

Tier ⇅ Pressing Cat# Year ⇅ Format Source / Mastering Notes Market ⇅
S Mobile Fidelity UD1S 2-009, One-Step UD1S 2-009 2019 Stereo, 45rpm, 2×12", One-Step Krieg Wunderlich, Shawn R. Britton Limited to 6,000 hand-numbered copies; 1/4" 15ips analog master to DSD256; strong owner reviews on Discogs, but one detailed video comparison rated it the weakest of three modern reissues (see note above) market data pending
S Electric Recording Company, stereo ERC 2021 Stereo, 33⅓ All-analog, cut from the original stereo master tapes Praised by an owner as superior to the original Riverside stereo cut; described in a separate video comparison as warmer and more subtle than the MoFi or AP cuts market data pending
A Analogue Productions APJ-1162 (Riverside Recordings box) APJ-1162 – Stereo, 45rpm, 2×12" Kevin Gray, Steve Hoffman, AcousTech Mastering Matrix-confirmed mastering credit; called the clear winner over the MoFi in one direct video comparison market data pending
A Riverside RLP 12-315 (mono) / RLP 1162 (stereo) RLP 12-315 / RLP 1162 1960 Mono & Stereo, 33⅓ Riverside lacquer First pressing; deep groove blue labels with no "Inc." after "Bill Grauer Productions" (a later repress adds "Inc." to the same text) market data pending
B Orpheum reissue RLP 12-315 / RLP 1162 (Orpheum) c. 1966–68 Mono & Stereo, 33⅓ Riverside lacquer, Orpheum Productions era Twin-reels Riverside logo replaced by "Orpheum Productions NYC" tag; no standalone Discogs ID confirmed –

There's also a mono-only Electric Recording Company pressing (ERC052M, limited to 300 copies, using the mono "Autumn Leaves" alternate take) not included in the table above since I couldn't independently verify a sound-quality account of that specific pressing.

Buyer's guide by budget

$$ (Affordable): The Orpheum reissue (c. 1966–68) – described by collectors as very close to the original Riverside pressing, just a touch less bright.

$$$$ (Mid-range): A clean Riverside RLP 12-315/1162 original – budget for real hunting or a trusted, pre-graded source given the title's stature.

$$$$$ (Premium): The Mobile Fidelity UD1S 2-009 One-Step, the Analogue Productions 45rpm cut from the Riverside Recordings box, or the Electric Recording Company stereo pressing – genuinely contested territory, see the note above.

References

Related guides: Everybody Digs Bill Evans · Waltz for Debby · The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Know something we don't? Spotted an error or have a pressing to add?

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