Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio.[2] His interpretations of traditional jazz repertoire, his ways of using impressionist harmony and block chords, and his trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines, continue to influence jazz pianists today.
For other uses, see Bill Evans (disambiguation).
Bill Evans
William John Evans
August 16, 1929
Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
September 15, 1980 (aged 51)
New York City, U.S.
- Musician
- composer
- arranger
- conductor
Piano
1950s–1980[1]
Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, he studied classical music at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, in New York City, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, Evans joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, then immersed in modal jazz, recorded Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album ever.[3]
In late 1959, Evans left the Miles Davis band and began his career as a leader, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, a group now regarded as a seminal modern jazz trio. In 1961, they recorded two albums during an engagement at New York's Village Vanguard jazz club, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby; a complete set of their Vanguard recordings on three CDs was issued decades later. However, ten days after this booking ended, LaFaro died in a car accident. After months without public performances, Evans reemerged with a new trio, featuring bassist Chuck Israels. In 1963, Evans recorded Conversations with Myself, a solo album produced with overdubbing technology. In 1966, he met bassist Eddie Gómez, with whom he worked for the next 11 years. During the mid-1970s Bill Evans collaborated with the singer Tony Bennett on two critically acclaimed albums: The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975) and Together Again (1977).
Many of Evans's compositions, such as "Waltz for Debby" and "Time Remembered", have become standards, played and recorded by many artists. Evans received 31 Grammy nominations and seven awards, and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame.[4]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Evans grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey, the son of Harry and Mary Evans (née Soroka). His father was of Welsh descent and ran a golf course; his mother was of Rusyn ancestry and descended from a family of coal miners.[5][6] The marriage was stormy because of his father's heavy drinking, gambling, and abuse.[7][8] Bill had a brother, Harry (Harold), two years his senior, with whom he was very close.[8]
Given Harry Evans Sr.'s destructive character, Mary Evans often left home with her sons to go to nearby Somerville, to stay with her sister Justine and the Epps family. There, Harry began piano lessons somewhere between ages 5 and 7 with local teacher Helen Leland. Bill was thought to be too young for lessons, but he began to play what he had heard during his brother's instruction,[9][10] and soon both were taking piano lessons.[11]
Evans remembered Leland with affection for not insisting on a heavy technical approach, with scales and arpeggios. He quickly developed a fluent sight-reading ability, but Leland considered Harry a better pianist.[11] At the age of seven, Bill began violin lessons, and soon also flute and piccolo. He soon dropped those instruments, but it is believed they later influenced his keyboard style. He later named Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert as composers whose work he often played.[12] During high school, Evans came in contact with 20th-century music like Stravinsky's Petrushka, which he called a "tremendous experience", and Milhaud's Suite provençale, whose bitonal language he believed "opened him to new things." Around the same time came his first exposure to jazz, when at age 12 he heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James's bands on the radio. At age 13, Bill stood in for a sick pianist in Buddy Valentino's rehearsal band,[13] where Harry was already playing the trumpet.[13][14] Soon he began to perform for dances and weddings throughout New Jersey, playing music like boogie woogie and polkas for $1 per hour.[15] Around this time, he met multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott, with whom he later recorded. Another important influence was bassist George Platt, who introduced Evans to the theory of harmony.[16]
Evans also listened to Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, George Shearing, Stan Getz, and Nat King Cole among others. He particularly admired Cole.[17] Evans attended North Plainfield High School, graduating in 1946.[18]
Personal life[edit]
Bill Evans was an avid reader, in particular philosophy and humorous books. His shelves held works by Plato, Voltaire, Whitehead, Santayana, Freud, Margaret Mead, Sartre and Thomas Merton; and he had a special fondness for Thomas Hardy's work. He was fascinated with Eastern religions and philosophies including Islam, Zen, and Buddhism. It was Evans who introduced John Coltrane to the Indian philosophy of Krishnamurti.[9]
Evans liked to paint and draw.[42] He was also a keen golfer, a hobby that began on his father's golf course.[9] Evans had a fondness for horse racing and frequently gambled hundreds of dollars, often winning.[78] During his last years, he even owned a racehorse named "Annie Hall" with producer Jack Rollins.[48]
In 1973, Evans broke up with his girlfriend of twelve years, Ellaine Schultz, to pursue Nenette Zazzara. Schultz then committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a subway train.
Evans married Zazzara in August 1973. They met while Bill’s trio was performing at Howard Rumsey's club Concerts By The Sea in Redondo Beach, California, where Zazzara was a part-time waitress.[79]
Legacy and influence[edit]
Evans has left his mark on such players as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Steve Kuhn, Warren Bernhardt, Michel Petrucciani, John Taylor, Vince Guaraldi, Stefano Bollani, Don Friedman, Marian McPartland, Denny Zeitlin, Bobo Stenson, Fred Hersch, Bill Charlap, Lyle Mays, Eliane Elias, Diana Krall, Ralph Towner, John McLaughlin, Lenny Breau, and Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, classical pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Denis Matsuev, and many other musicians in jazz and other music genres.[81]
Many of his tunes, such as "Waltz for Debby", "Turn Out the Stars", "Very Early", and "Funkallero", have become often-recorded jazz standards.
During his lifetime, Evans was honored with 31 Grammy nominations and seven Awards.[53] In 1994, he was posthumously honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Bill Evans Jazz Festival at Southeastern Louisiana University began in 2002.[82] A Bill Evans painting hangs in the Recital Hall lobby of the Department of Music and Performing Arts. The Center for Southeastern Louisiana Studies at the Simms Library holds the Bill Evans archives.[83] He was named Outstanding Alumnus of the year in 1969 at Southeastern Louisiana University.[84]
Evans influenced the character Seb's wardrobe in the film La La Land.[85]