McPherson had some guts tackling "I Believe In You", truthfully, and the making it work as well as he did. It's not a tune that is intrinsically ready-made for jazz, as witness:
I don't believe in that.
I keep forgetting about Empathy, one of the the Bill Evans Verve sides I really dig (Shelly Manne, always ready to bring it), but even here, for such a self-professed "song" guy he seems to need to get past the song in order to get into it instead of the other way around (that bridge is a trip, face it, totally driven by the character/lyric, not intended for improvisation). Ok, but...
On the whole, Michelle Lee, still, but BIG props to Charles McPherson for carpe-dieming on it like that. He gets the song, more than Lonnie, more than Barry, they're looking for where the licks go in this slightly off-beat structure (not in a bad way, mind you), McPherson knows. He called the tune, I'm sure. Hell, he played with Mingus, you thing that unusual form/symmetries gonna fuck with Charles McPherson? I don't think so!