Bill Evans Biography, Photos and Posters

Bill Evans

Biography

Born: August 16, 1929
City and Country of Origin: Plainfield, New Jersey
Music Training: classical piano at age 6; learned flute by age 13; played violin; Southeastern Louisiana University degree in piano; studied composition at Mannes College of Music
Awards: Grammy 1980 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist, "I Will Say Goodbye;" Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group, "We Will Meet Again;" 1971 Best Jazz Performance By A Soloist, The Bill Evans Album; Best Jazz Performance By A Group, The Bill Evans Album; 1970 Best Jazz Performance - Small Group Or Soloist With Small Group, "Alone;" 1968 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Small Group Or Soloist With Small Group, Bill Evans At The Montreux Jazz Festival; 1963 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Soloist Or Small Group, Conversations With Myself
Top Recordings: New Jazz Conceptions, Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Portrait in Jazz, Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Conversations With Myself
Bill Evans Biography: American jazz pianist Bill Evans was one of the major jazz influences to the post 1950 era. His impressionistic style of play has influenced a generation of jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett, and his work continues to inspire younger pianists such as Fred Hersch, Esbjörn Svensson, Bill Charlap and Lyle Mays.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey to a mother of Russian ancestry and a Welshman. His mother was an amateur pianist interested in modern classical composers. At the age of 12 he filled in for his brother with the Buddy Valentino band. This is credited with getting him interested in jazz. During the late 40s he played boogie woogie in various New York clubs. He received a scholarship to Southeastern Louisiana University and in 1950 he graduated with a degree in piano performance and teaching. He also studied composition at Mannes College of Music. Died: September 15, 1980

After serving in the Army he worked at dance clubs with jazz clarinetists and guitarists. In the 50s he worked in New York City as a sideman in traditional and so-called Third Stream jazz bands. During this period he recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz. His recordings made with seminal composer/theoretician George Russell are notable for Evans's solo work, including the famous "All About Rosie." He also recorded notable albums under the leadership of Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, and Art Farmer. In 1956 he recorded his debut album New Jazz Conceptions for Riverside Records.

In 1958 Evans became the only white musician in Miles Davis' Sextet an affiliation which would last only 8 months. He went out on his own, but returned to the Sextet to record the jazz classic Kind of Blue.

As the decade changed to the 60s Evans found himself at the head of a trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. The trio recorded four albums: Portrait in Jazz (1959), Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz for Debby (all recorded in 1961). The latter two albums are live recordings, both drawn from the same recording date. In 2005, the full sets were collected on the three-CD set The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961.

After LaFaro was killed in a car accident at the age of 25 Evans was devastated and did not record or perform for several months. He replaced LaFaro with Chuck Israels with Motian remining on the drums. Two albums, Moonbeams and How My Heart Sings!, resulted. In 1963, after having switched from Riverside to the much more widely distributed Verve, he recorded Conversations With Myself, an innovative album on which he employed "over-dubbing", layering up to three individual tracks of piano for each song. The album won him his first Grammy award, for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Soloist or Small Group.

While at Verve his recording output was prolific, but uneven. A big band album recorded at Town Hall was recorded, but never released due to Evans' dissatisfaction with the outcome and an album recorded with a full symphony orchestra was released , but ill received by the critics. One of the most significant releases during this period is Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival, from 1968.

During the early 70s Evans experienced the most stable long-lasting group of his performing career with Marty Morell on drums starting in 1969. Also at this time Evans had finally kicked his heroin addiction which also led to amore stable personal life. The group made several excellent albums, including The Bill Evans Album, Since We Met, and The Tokyo Concert; But Beautiful, featuring the trio plus legendary tenor saxophonist Stan Getz in live 1974 performances from Holland and Belgium, was released posthumously in 1996. In 1974, Bill Evans recorded a multi-movement jazz concerto specifically written for him by Claus Ogerman entitled "Symbiosis", originally released on the MPS Records label. The 1970s also saw Evans collaborate with the singer Tony Bennett on 1975's The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album and 1977's Together Again.

Eliot Zigmund replaced Morell on drums in 1976. The new group led to many interesting collaborations. A greater emphasis was placed on group improvisation and interaction. When Zigmund and Puerto Rican bass player Eddie Gomez left the group they were replaced by Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. Even though they recorded only one album before Evans death in 1980 they arguably exceeded the earlier trios in their powerful group interaction.

Bill Evans chemical dependency on heroin began during his stint with the Miles Davis group and continued for much of his career resulting in poor health and financial woes. Just when he seemed to have conquered his addiction to heroin, cocaine became a serious issue for Evans and eventually in the fall of 1980 his body gave out.
Died: September 15, 1980

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