Small Change, 1976
Backed by a jazz trio comprising of tenor sax player Lew Tabackin, bassist Jim Hughart, and drummer Shelly Manne, Waits finds the most sympathetic backing of his career to that point and creates his early masterpiece. Small Change is the home of Waits’ favorites like "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me),” the moving soldier’s ballad “Tom Traubert’s Blues,” and the manic slide-show of “Step Right Up.”