No, that unfinished steel cube is not someone's old gas meter. It is a major jazz reissue, "The Complete Bill Evans on Verve," weighing in at more than three pounds and containing 18 compact discs and a 160-page booklet. Despite its heft -- and $240 price tag -- it is not the ultimate Evans collection, though we can hope that it represents the last word in cumbersome, user-resistant design. Evans was under contract to Verve between 1962 and 1970, and a boxed set of his work for the label was inevitable. The number of previous Evans boxes available on other labels suggest that this latest and l...
