After a week-long residency in San Francisco and an appearance on the “Merv Griffin Show,” he played the first of several planned gigs in New York and then canceled the rest. And, eventually, Evans’ chronic health problems caught up with him a few years later. He sounds joyful and engaged, but by this time, life offstage was a struggle. On Getting Sentimental, recorded in early 1978 at the Village Vanguard, Zigmund’s drums are high in the mix and pushing the song forward as Evans comps excitedly, ripping off imaginative runs as he toys with the structure of the chords with his left hand. On an early run-through of the piece he kept the tempo in check to enhance its inherent melancholy, but live he would play it much faster and turn it into a flowing vehicle for improvisation. Evans was fanatically devoted to the show, and often requested to watch it backstage before gigs on nights it aired (incidentally, Evans was drafted into the service in 1951 during the Korean War but served in bands stateside). Evans’ playing on the gorgeous title track is soft and patient, stretching the contours of the melody to squeeze extra pathos from each chord change.Īlso featured on You Must Believe in Spring is Evans’ take on “Suicide Is Painless,” the theme from the hit TV show M*A*S*H. Recorded that same year, but not issued until later, was You Must Believe in Spring, a terrific trio album with Gomez and Zigmund. Listen to how LaFaro adds accents to Evans’ melody in his instrument’s upper register, sometimes seeming to be the pianist’s third hand. “Israel,” from 1961’s Explorations, shows what the trio can do with trickier uptempo material. In LaFaro, a superb technician with a far-reaching harmonic imagination, he discovered his ideal partner. Evans’ idea was to have the band improvise collectively, rather than the rhythm section supporting the pianist as each soloed in turn. In the waning days of 1959, Evans first entered the studio with bassist LaFaro and drummer Motian, and the group quickly became one of the most important in modern jazz. The Unforgettable Trioīill Evans found an inexhaustible store of creative possibility in the stripped-down form of the piano/bass/drum trio, and his work in this setting is his best known. “The Two Lonely People,” from Evans’ 1971 trio LP The Bill Evans Album, was written by the pianist and lyricist Carol Hall, and Evans mentioned how much her words shaped his development of the melody. Over the years, Evans also found inspiration in lyrics. After an impressionistic opening section, Evans and Hall up the pace slightly and begin an extended conversation that finds them working through the implications of the tune to gorgeous effect. “Turn Out the Stars” is an aching ballad Evans’ regularly returned to throughout his career, and you can hear a terrific early version on Intermodulation, his 1966 duo set with guitarist Jim Hall, a kindred spirit. Listen to the best Bill Evans songs on Apple Music and Spotify. And though his work was beloved by his fellow musicians – his breakthrough album, 1959’s Everybody Digs Bill Evans, featured on its cover testimonials from Davis, Ahmad Jamal, George Shearing, and Cannonball Adderley – his music was unusually accessible and is frequently an early stop on a curious listener’s journey into jazz. In his case, his unwillingness to chase trends turned out to be a strength. Instead, he made his way through these tumultuous decades by performing in familiar settings – mostly trios – and continually refining and expanding his approach to jazz standards. But Evans barely touched on these developments. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall.” The beauty that Davis describes was present from Evans’ work early until the end.Įvans’ career spanned from the mid-1950s to his death in 1980, a time of rupture in the jazz world that saw the birth of free playing and the creation of electric fusion, among other innovations. Evans was the pianist on Miles Davis’ landmark album Kind of Blue, and in his autobiography, Davis includes an oft-quoted remark that sums up Evans’ sound particularly well: “Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. His distinctive tone at the instrument allowed him to wring large amounts of emotion from just a few notes. He attained this stature by playing to his strengths. Bill Evans is one of the most important pianists in jazz.
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