Here’s are Kenny Washington’s thoughts about the tune:
“The Matt Dennis song Angel Eyes is one of the great torch songs of all time. Ol’ Blue Eyes owned this one. I especially love the last lyric “scuse me while I disappear.” A year earlier, Gene Ammons had had a hit with this standard. This tune is usually done as a ballad, but Ahmad takes it at a nice medium tempo. Ahmad reshapes the form of this standard like a sculptor, to fit the needs of the trio playing a chorus and a half of the melody. He uses the intro as an interlude. For the first chorus of his improvisation, he switches to the regular A-A-B-A song form of the tune. He then goes directly to the bridge and the last A section with the interlude. This form is repeated again (bridge, last A and interlude). Listen to how he changes his dynamics to a pianissimo and brings back the bridge melody. The Gershwin classic It Ain’t Necessarily So is quoted for a second time at the last A before the intro is again stated for a powerful ending. This is another one of those performances where there’s a lot happening. This marvelous arrangement sounds so natural and the trio pulls it off with such ease.”
