The evenings documented on this album's material that ESP licensed from his wife after his death, were two of his good nights, and not just because he's in the company of famed compatriots Zoot Sims (for half the album) and Kenny Clarke. For that matter, the less famous Pierre Michelot was one of the best French jazzers. They explore the nooks and crannies of bop standards and compositions of Powell's mentor, Thelonious Monk. Many players develop new styles in their later years, and Powell's changed playing - less flashy than in his youth - can easily be ascribed to that natural evolution rather than to anything traumatic. The lightness of touch, the humor (like Monk's) of these performances is fully enjoyable on its own terms, and disapprovingly holding it up to his early work for comparison makes no more sense in Powell's case than it does in Miles Davis'. This is superb jazz that requires no apologies.