Discovering Bill Evans...

[Sundown]

 

Hey Guys -

 

Lately I've been studying Bill Evans. I don't think I need to go into a lot of detail as to why that's a good choice, but it's been a fruitful exercise.

 

I don't have a lot of his material, but I do have Miles' Kind of Blue and a compilation of the Bill Evans Trio (Time Remembered). I've been taking select tunes and creating sequences with Cubase (drums, bass, and sometimes the piano comping), and then practicing solos over the top. So far I've worked with "So What" and "All Blues."

 

I've been reading every article I can about Bill, and if you have any suggestions for material to listen to, or good resources about his playing, please post.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dana.]

Portrait in Jazz

Sunday at the Village Vanguard

Everybody Digs Bill Evans (if only for "Peace Piece" and "Some Other Time")

[smanzella]

You may want to take a look at the Bill Evans Fake Book by Pascal Wetzel. I find it to be well done and accurate.

[Dave Ferris]

Portrait in Jazz

Sunday at the Village Vanguard

 

Yeah all the old Riverside recordings are my favorites personally.

 

I have "The Complete Bill Evans on Riverside" (RCD-018-2) an 8 disc, 3 volume set. A lot of alternate takes on stuff like "All of you" "My Romance", Waltz for Debby, Alice in Wonderland, etc.

 

The stuff with Cannonball Aderly is great which is included in that Riverside compilation. Aside from the things under Bill's name, "Portrait of Cannoball Adderly" on Riverside is a nice record.

 

Some of the Verve things from the '60s are great too. "Intermodulation" with Jim Hall. "Live at Town Hall".

 

I like "We will meet again" on Warner Brothers from '79 w/ Tom Harrell. It has one my favorite haunting Evan's tunes--"Comrade Conrad".

 

The two records he made with Tony Bennett are very cool!

[marino]

The Village Vanguard Sessions

The Bill Evans Album

Since We Met

 

[Dana.]

"Live at Town Hall".

[SK]

Village Vanguard with Scott LaFaro - possibly my favorite.

 

Check out his last recorded CD box set of his final week of gigs at the Vanguard, with Marc Johnson. Evans' playing on it shows he was growing and headed in an even deeper direction.

[Joe Muscara]

There are some really good interviews with him on YouTube. I'll let you search for them. There was a really good series that was done somewhere in Europe, it looked like it was someone's large living room, but I think those were removed. At least, I'm not finding them now. If someone could provide that link if they're still available, that would be cool.

[Dave E]

I'm a huge Bill Evans fan. There are some good transcriptions available that were originally part of a newsletter called "Letters From Bill", or something like that. No doubt they're on the web somewhere.

 

I have a record called "California Here I Come" with a very young Eddie Gomez and Philly Joe Jones. It's one of my favorites. Philly Joe kicked tempos up and made Bill swing harder.

[Joe Muscara]

I'm a huge Bill Evans fan. There are some good transcriptions available that were originally part of a newsletter called "Letters From Bill", or something like that. No doubt they're on the web somewhere.

That was easy! (Near the bottom of the page.)

 

http://www.billevanswebpages.com/

 

Edit - crap, that link for the newsletter doesn't seem to download anything.

[Meisenhower]

IMHO, there are NO bad Bill Evans recordings! You can glean something from anything that Bill Evans plays.

 

Certainly everything mentioned above are really high watermarks for Evans and you won't go wrong listening to all of it.

 

He was 'da Man!!

[Tuggy]

There's a good lesson named " 5 ways to play like Bill Evans" on KB website. I'll definetely check them out ASAP.

 

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/5-ways-to/January-2011/125321

 

Also, I'll double the suggestion about the Complete Riverside Recordings. The alternate takes gives extra ideas about how Bill Evans approaches to the very same tune from different perspectives.

[Joe Muscara]

Here's one of the interviews. It's in three parts, and the easiest way to get all the parts is on this page.

 

http://vancouverjazz.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2826

[Dave E]

Thinking back.... I used "You Must Believe In Spring" like a Marvin Gaye record.

 

Chicks dig it.

[Bobadohshe]

Check out the many excellent resources chock full of transcriptions of Bill's playing. The quickest way to figure out what made Bill Evans playing sound like Bill Evans is to see how his glorious harmonies move and his inner voices resolve, in a tapestry of Debussy/Chopinesque texture.

[bourniplus]

I highly recommend the album You must believe in spring. Check out the modulation on the title track.

[Mizu]

+1 on the Village Vanguard recordings.

 

I like Explorations (Riverside), in particular the version of Nardis - it is soooo relaxed.

[Sundown]

 

Thanks everyone for all the recommendations.

 

I looked up the Bill Evans Fakebook (Wetzel), and it's only 25 bucks. Sold... I have The Real Book, but the chord symbols alone won't provide Bill's unique voicings. And that's where a lot of the sound comes from.

 

I was listening to some of his trio work on the way home, and it's just awesome. Bill had the right balance. He had those gorgeous harmonies, the melodic lines, and just the right compromise between simplicity and complexity.

 

Awesome...

 

[JakeJackson]

Check out his work with Monica Zetterlund, the Swedish singer with whom he recorded a vocal version of Waltz for Debby, to see a different side of him:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tp-nbchmHU

 

Note the Groucho Marx moment at the very end. Several more of these videos are on Youtube and there's an album:

 

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist/music/detail.aspx?pid=11490&aid=6878

 

He apparently instigated the collaboration himself after learning she'd recorded the song. (Just ran across this video and CD myself, so I'm fanning it a bit.)

[Bobadohshe]

Thanks everyone for all the recommendations.

 

I looked up the Bill Evans Fakebook (Wetzel), and it's only 25 bucks. Sold... I have The Real Book, but the chord symbols alone won't provide Bill's unique voicings. And that's where a lot of the sound comes from.

 

....with respect, neither will any kind of Fakebook. You gotta look at the actual notes, and again, there are lots of good resources for them:

 

Check out this one

 

or this one

[LX88]

Wow ... no one has mentioned THE LAST WALTZ ( no, not the movie by The Band ). This was the last recording Bill ever did, recorded during several nights of the last week of his life at the Keystone Corner in San Francisco, September 1980.

 

I love the Village Vanguard stuff as much as anyone ( recorded the last week of Scott La Faro's life...or close) but The Last Waltz burns like no other piano record ever has or perhaps ever will.

 

Bill Evans took some unbelieveable chances within this music, but no one was more well equipped to do it. A lot of the material was well travelled by then ( pieces such as "Nardis" appear in several takes) but Evans turns them inside out with skill and passion.

 

It is no secret that Bill Evans had substance abuse issues. He made his choice to burn both ends of the candle, and apparently he knew he was dying during his last week but chose to go out playing.

 

I have always thought that the story of this recording would at the very least make a very interesting story for Keyboard Magazine or Downbeat. Marc Johnson ( bass) and Joe La Barbera (drums) are still around to talk about it , and La Barbera was the one who took Bill to the hospital on the last day of his life. I did question Joe once about the music on The Last Waltz and he was reluctant to say much about it, which is his privelege after all.

 

The Last Waltz is an incredible collection of music but it is a 7 CD set so it was rarely seen in stores. I have been seeing some tracks on the downloading sites. Any track from this is well worth checking out.

[gryphon]

I differ from most Bill Evans fans. I absolutely love his solo music, or his overdubbed solo stuff (the Conversations With Myself series). But frankly what many people consider his best stuff, like Waltz for Debbie, leaves me cold.

 

The answer is you've got to listen to it all and see what you like.

[burningbusch]

But frankly what many people consider his best stuff, like Waltz for Debbie, leaves me cold.

 

I don't think BE fans think WFD is the best of BE, only his most famous composition.

 

Busch.

[burningbusch]

I love looking at BE transcriptions, especially at tempo vs. rubato (when the rhythm is more guess work). The rhythmic diversity in his phases just knocks me out. But it all flows so perfectly.

 

Busch.

[Dave Ferris]

But frankly what many people consider his best stuff, like Waltz for Debbie, leaves me cold.

 

I don't think BE fans think WFD is the best of BE, only his most famous composition.

 

Busch.

 

Exactly. I look at it like I do with Brubeck and "Take 5", Herbie & "Maiden Voyage" or "Watermelon Man", Horace Silver & "Song for my father" or Duke with "Take the A-train".

 

Serious Bill fans have their favorites, a few of mine are "Very Early" and already mentioned "Comrade Conrad" and "Funkallero" among many.

 

edit--I like the version of WFD with Cannonball Adderly the best. It swings hard when they go to the straight 4.

[gryphon]

I don't think BE fans think WFD is the best of BE

I could be convinced of that if I hadn't read it a hundred times elsewhere.

I look at it like I do with Herbie and "Watermelon Man"

Another one I hate. Watermelon Man. Why, for the love of God, why? I'm almost tempted to say if you hear it on cruise ships, it is bad. But in addition to this I did hear some good stuff.

 

And there's nothing wrong with Take 5.

[Bobadohshe]

'Turn Out The Stars' is one of my favorites, as mentioned elsewhere in some other thread not long ago.

[JakeJackson]

I never cared for Waltz for Debby much either. I think it gains a lot from having lyrics and a singer. Or maybe I just like watching Ms. Zetterlund, who seemed to realize it has a kind of light folk melody.

[Dave Ferris]

I don't think BE fans think WFD is the best of BE

I could be convinced of that if I hadn't read it a hundred times elsewhere.

Exactly. I look at it like I do with Brubeck and "Take 5", Herbie & "Maiden Voyage" or "Watermelon Man", Horace Silver & "Song for my father" or Duke with "Take the A-train".

Another one I hate. Watermelon Man. Why, for the love of God, why? I'm almost tempted to say if you hear it on cruise ships, it is bad. But in addition to this I did hear some good stuff.

 

And there's nothing wrong with Take 5.

 

I didn't mean to imply that any of those songs were "bad" compositions. On the contrary, I'd be proud to lay claim as composer to of any of those-Watermelon Man included.

 

In the world of a serious Jazz musician and fan though, it can be a more than a little frustrating when people identify the whole Jazz idiom, or body of work of a specific Artist, with something like the aforementioned tunes.

 

If I had a dollar for every gig I've been on with a Sax player where someone comes up and says..."yeah I LOVE Jazz, especially Sax, you guys do Take Five?" --I could pay off my house.

 

[SK]

I don't think BE fans think WFD is the best of BE

I could be convinced of that if I hadn't read it a hundred times elsewhere.

Busch and Dave are right - Waltz For Debbie is always cited in articles about Bill because it was a semi-popular original composition and a well constructed piece. Considering the complexity of much of his other music like Twelve Tone Tune, I also suspect Bill Evans wrote it with the possibility of a hit in mind (as he did with "Bill's Hit Tune"), and as Herbie wrote "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon".

 

It hasn't held up as well - it's a sweet song, but a lost mood of a bygone era. I also never got into it much, although since the progression is so playable for solos, I wrote a new angular line song over it a few years ago that takes all the 'sweetness' out.

 

Many musicians in his day didn't appreciate Bill's music and thought it was just cocktail music. I got into more modern players myself like Chick, first, before going back and discovering Evans on my own.

 

So you're not going to get to know Bill Evans' playing through books, discussions or interviews. Even his own personal charts with handwritten instructions (copies of which were given me by someone who played with him) don't give a glimpse into the genius of his playing.

 

The only way is to listen to him - the integrity in his playing was never surpassed. Waltz For Debbie doesn't matter.