Those lush opening chords are what got me into Bill Evans. I also discovered Jaco Pastorius in a similar way. His bass playing in Bright Size Life was so distractingly good I had to investigate.

"The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans for Bill Evans and Paul Chambers on Kind of Blue."[0]

At about 35 seconds into this[1] filmed version of So What, recorded between the 2 sessions for Kind of Blue, you can hear Gil conducting his intro, arranged for his orchestra. It sounds like pretty much exactly what Bill and PC play on the record.

I'll give him credit for the sound of Flamenco Sketches[2] though, maybe my favourite Miles track, adapted from his Peace Piece. And I love the 1958 Stella he was on[3], although for me Coltrane is the star of that.

Also I love his duo records with Tony Bennett.

I really, really dislike his trio stuff though, gee. (Jazz pianist here.) Unswinging, and argghh that clunky locked-hands style is the worst. It puzzles me when people talk as if everything he ever did was uniquely great, and rave about his genius. </rant>

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_What_(Miles_Davis_compositi...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diHFEapOr_E

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3W_alUuFkA

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJYfbxqQNao

interesting, I did not know this! But now that you say it, it totally sounds like Gil Evans. Such an amazing composer and arranger.

Ya know, I've never listened to Bright Size Life. I love Jaco's debut album. Now queued up to listen to after dinner. Thanks.