FEBRUARY 2012
Articles
Albums
Biography
CD Box sets
Bill Evans' Sidemen
Grammy® Awards
CD Reviews
Collaborations
News Archives
Evans Links
THE
HONOR ROLL
BILL CHARLAP WIN HINKLE JACK REILLY DOUG RAMSEY MARTY MORELL BILL ZAVATSKY BRET PRIMACK TERRY TEACHOUT MARC MYERS WILL FRIEDWALD ANDY LAVERNE LAURIE VERCHOMIN MIKE HARRIS MICHAEL RICCI AT AAJ HAL GALPER BRUCE SPIEGEL JUDY
BELL AT TRO RON NETHERCUTT SAM CHELL DR. ROB RIJNEKE ROB DUBOFF BRUCE BRANIGAN VICTOR VERNEY PAUL UNDERSINGER STEPHEN D. ANDERSON JERRY KOVARSKY GREGORY GAITHER ERIC MIN-TUNG KAZI GODA BILL BYAM JOE CAROSELLI STEVE BLANCO PAUL BENKIMOUN DAVID MEAD JOHN VARRALLO DON
BELL
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| Welcome
to billevanswebpages.com,,the
Web's most visited site for jazz pianist-composer BILL EVANS For over ELEVEN YEARS, this website has been dedicated to the life and music of pianist and composer BILL EVANS (1929 -1980), one of the most important and influential musicians in all of jazz history. News, CD and DVD reviews, essays and articles, recording catalog, interviews, sidemen info, sound samples, biography, etc. . We try to update at least once every few weeks, as circumstances warrant, so come by again soon. We welcome you to send email with your comments or questions...or any reviews or articles you may want us to consider for inclusion on this website. All will be read and answered as time permits. Please PUT "EVANS" OR "BILL EVANS " IN THE SUBJECT LINE, so it doesn't get tossed into my spam folder by an email bot. Thank you! -- Jan Stevens, pianist and website editor PLEASE RELOAD OR REFRESH YOUR BROWSER FOR THE LATEST CONTENT! An archival rarity: 1959 'Metronome' magazine article on Bill
Just
click the image and read this great article... Quote of the Month
Tooting my Own Horn... and a new CD |
"I
love impressionists. I love Debussy. He's one of my favorite
composers. I'm not crazy about painting, but if I was, I
would prefer the Impressionists. Sometimes, I feel like
I'm living two hundred years behind, back in the eighteenth
century, not in the twentieth. So I don't know if I'm an
impressionist or not. I have the desire to change, but I
feel I can't as long as I'm not able to replace what I'm
doing by something better. I haven't found anything better
yet, so I'm satisfied with what I have".|
In the eleven-plus years I've run this site, I've never done this before, but maybe it's time now. Many folks over the years, knowing that I am a working pianist first, have emailed to the effect of "where can I hear your stuff"? As it turns out, I am still working on my own CD, (though when you're working with someone over 95 miles away, it takes longer). That being said, I recently finished producing and playing Steinway and digital piano for the first album of Carol Vasquez, a talented singer here in NJ and the results have just been released. Feedback so far has been excellent. In all humility, may I quote what Marc Myers wrote in his great jazzwax.com blog.
Thanks
for your indlulgence!. |
I
must thank Marc again for his very kind words. But I must
say had a challenging and very rewarding experience doing
some new arrangements for some standards Carol sang, and shifting
harmonies around for great tunes like 'You Don't Know
What Love is", "Blame it on My Youth",
"The Song is You", the title song, and
an original I wrote with Carol's lyric. etc.. OF COURSE. we
had to do a Bill Evans composition, and I
think this may be the first time "Remembering
the Rain" has been recorded vocally as a
ballad, the way it was written.Win Hinkle's Bill Evans Tune Test(s).
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NEW 2-CD RELEASE: The Sesjun Radio Shows
The small Dutch village Laren has a long jazz tradition. More recent jazzpodia are the former Boerenhofstede, the Singer Museum and Nick Vollebregt's Jazzcafe. Bill Evans played several times in these locations. A Dutch public broadcasting organisation (TROS) began its radio jazz concerts in 1973 under the name SESJUN. It was broadcast from the Boerenhofstede, and Nick Vollebregt's Jazzcafe, and became the permanent spot for a first class series of concerts. With producer Dick de Winter and Cees Schrama as broadcasters, the program became very popular. These radio programs have been broadcast by more than 200 public radio stations in the USA and Canada. This CD is a compilation of recordings from 1973, 1975 and 1979 with Eddie Gomez, Eliot Zigmund, Marc Johnson, Joe LaBarbera and Toots Thielemans. Perfect audio quality! Read Will Layman's great new REVIEW at popmatters.com Here's the amazon,com link.. and cduniverse.com
Special
thanks also to Mike Harris for important corrections!
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"Harmony of Bill Evans Vol.2" by Jack Reilly
In Jack Reilly's second volume, he provides a deeper appreciation and understanding of Evans' compositions. This book and CD package (only $29.99 USD) includes two important theory chapters (which stand out on their own merits, brilliantly) , plus ten of Evans’ most passionate and melodically gorgeous works. The voicing charts for all ten songs are more complex than in volume one and pianistically more demanding, yet always worth the effort. The subjects of modulation and key relationships that are discussed in each chapter will help the player memorize faster and improvise with more facility; not an easy task when performing Evans' music. The "Lament for Bill" in chapter 13 is the author's tribute to the genius of this great artist. The accompanying CD will add to the enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of the written examples. This a powerhouse book that will a prove to be a deep and indispensible experience for pianists of all stylistic persuasions as well as serious Evans fans. There is much to learn and enjoy here! Songs include: Your Story • Laurie • For Nenette • My Bells • Maxine • Song for Helen • Turn Out the Stars • Very Early • Waltz for Debby • and more! |
Hal
Leonard, Inc, (the world's largest music publisher) is doing very
well with the recent book "THE HARMONY OF BILL EVANS VOL.
2" by master pianist -composer Jack Reilly (with a Foreward
by yours truly, Jan Stevens). Bill Evans died
in 1980 but the compositional legacy he left behind is forever
expanding. This expansive study shows how and why.
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Perhaps
the most asked question I get in email is where can one
obtain high-quality photos and posters of Bill Evans. Keep
in mind that like music, the photos taken of Bill in his
lifetime are the copyrighted and individually-owned work
of the photographers who took them (or their respective
estates) Thus, only photographers or their agents or representatives,
or those licensed to market these photos may do so. This
is one reason why this site has never sold, or will sell
or otherwise distribute Evans photographs. 
An
incredible resource: between 1989 -1994, a newsletter
dedicated solely to the music and the life of Bill Evans was
published by well-known Evans historian and bassist Win Hinkle
(Those who have appreciated Bill's work since that time may
have seen Win's name included in both the Peter Pettinger
and Keith Shadwick books) "Letter From Evans" was available
by subscription only back then, but now Win has made all twenty-six
issues available online in .pdf files-- and it's all free!
