Piano Spotlight: Bill Evans

By Dominic FlorioJanuary 11th, 2012Blogs, Piano SpotlightHeinrich Klaffs

Bill Evans has influenced generations of jazz piano players all over the world from his use of impressionist harmony, interpretation, and his trademark rhythmic concepts.

Life

Bill Evans was born William John Evans on August 19, 1929 in Plainfield, NJ. At six, he began his musical studies with church-borne classical music and soon after also dabbled in the flute and violin. But piano quickly became his passion.

As a teenager, Bill played cut his teeth playing several gigs before attending Southeastern Louisiana University for Piano Performance and Education. Afterwards, he moved to New York and studied at Mannes College of Music for Composition. Meanwhile, Bill formed his first trio with friends from college and began playing gigs in New Jersey. It wasn’t until he graduated when guitarist Mundell Lowe encouraged him to start playing in New York City. Bill spent a short while performing in the city until he was drafted into the Army, where he played flute in the Fifth Army Band.

When he came back to civilian life in 1955, he found himself right back in New York. That same year he released his first album “New Jazz Conceptions,” on which he recorded what is widely regarded as his most loved piece, “A Waltz For Debbie.” The album featured a new harmonic sound not many had heard before.

Bill did not release anything for another two years until he recorded with Miles Davis on the best selling jazz album of all time, “Kind Of Blue.” Miles shared Bill’s love of impressionist music. “Kind Of Blue” has stood to be the most important example of modal jazz in the history of the genre.

After the project, Bill formed his next trio with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro. This group released the classic albums “Portrait in Jazz” and “Explorations” in 1959 and 1961, respectively. The concept for the trio was equal interplay; Bill Evans was able to be the first person to develop this style. Among these successful albums, the group recorded a famous live set at the Village Vanguard in New York City in 1961. Unfortunately, Scott LaFaro died in a car accident shortly after the live recordings. His death devastated Evans, who went into seclusion for a while until 1962.

In 1963 Bill Evans won a Grammy on his “Conversations With Myself” album, in which he overdubbed himself on piano several times. This is when he first started touring worldwide and selling out venues all over Europe and Asia. Bassist Eddie Gomez began performing with Evans in 1966, and continued for eleven years. With Gomez and various drummers, Bill toured and had much success working with the biggest names in jazz music and built up a considerable number of recordings for Verve, Warner Bros., Fantasy, Riverside, and Columbia records.

By 1978, Evans had formed his last trio and began suffering family and personal problems, mostly due to his addiction to cocaine. Despite his failing health, he insisted on working and kept touring until being forced to cancel a number of gigs in New York due to a sudden hospitalization.

Bill Evans died on September 15, 1980 from a bleeding ulcer, cirrhosis of the liver, and bronchial pneumonia. His loss was felt throughout the jazz world.

Influence

Bill Evans has left an indelible mark on the history of jazz for all time. He was the force behind introducing impressionist harmony into jazz, and a soloistic style all his own. Evans has had an affect on jazz piano playing well before his death in 1980 and nearly any jazz pianist would admit to his influence in their playing. Some of these players include Brad Mehldau, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and countless others. It is said that no other piano players but McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans influence young jazz pianists.

Style and Technique

Evans playing style and technique can be easily traced back to his formal education in classical music. Though his style is very much classical in nature, there is an obvious influence of European Impressionist composers, which affected his phrasing, touch, melodic ideas, and of course his harmonic ideas. Through his years of playing, he displayed a mastery of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic interpretation of jazz music and was able to create a commanding fusion of jazz, classical music, and certain ethnic styles of music from around the world. Evans was never a forceful piano player. He was always sensible and conservative, never playing notes just for the sake of wowing people. Although he dabbled in playing electric keyboards and avant-garde jazz at times he never strayed to far from his roots in the jazz tradition.