| Reflections on Bill Evans' birthday, August 16 |  |
| Reflections on Bill Evans' birthday, August 16 | |
by WIN HINKLE (2005)
Once you reach the age of twenty or so, birthdays become less important. Sometimes all the hoopla and gifts that your family might bestow upon you become boring and just another chore to live through. This happens to me quite often but when I remember Bill's birthday things are a little different. Bill has turned out to be the center of my musical soul. His birthday, and the day he died, and June in the Village Vanguard, both in 1961 and 1980 and many other dates provoke me to explore again the question, Why I like Bill's music more than Mahler, Beethoven, and any jazz musician, and any other type of music?
Part of the answer is that Bill's notes, chords, and musical lines seem to be closer to the surface of my mind, more that any others. Sure, I can still recognize other composer/performers even when their music has been bastardized and deranged for television commercials. Bill's music is always on the top of my consciousness. After waking up in the morning what is the first thing in your mind's ear? In my house, if someone has the TV set blasting away I turn it off immediately, (sometimes handing the TV listener a set of headphones) so that I might "clear the pallet" of my small brain and let Bill 's music flow. I don't even need to listen to recordings anymore to let Bill rise to the surface. His is always with me, sometimes playing an integral part of my dreams.
It's interesting to consider that Bill's music has never enjoyed the absorption by the masses that other music has, and, I think that is a good thing. As Bill Evans devotees we recognize they we are a special breed. We hear the beauty in music in a different way. We treat Bill's music almost as a personal religion, holding it above all others, respecting it and safeguarding it from corruption. We maintain a constant vigil on our Bill Evans recordings, never to lose sight of them; lest we forget any of the great passages we have heard. Bill is a part of us to the point of being inseparable, like a good pair of shoes, knowing that we would become stressed-out if those shoes ever became lost, stolen or damaged.
Most of you know that fellow pianists and other musicians gave Bill a party on his fiftieth birthday just a year before he died. Some of us have heard the poor quality private tape of some of the piano playing that went on at that party. Bill's playing was not as serious on that occasion, choosing to participate by going along with the humor of the moment. Bill became "one of the gang" in that gathering, hammin' it up right along with the others, playing as an equal, not on the higher plane where all the participants knew and recognized he belonged. The party did them good and it was good for Bill. The organizers of the party knew that their time with Bill was limited and they wanted to express their esteem for him and his music while he was still with them.
Now, on his seventy-sixth birthday we don't have the same opportunity for the live, "in-your-face" recognition of his art. But we can still reflect on the "why and how" of our personal relationship with Bill's music. Indeed, it is very difficult to put into words but it is still fun trying.
Win Hinkle is a professional bassist, a Bill Evans scholar and was a consultant to Peter Pettinger, author of the biography "How My Heart Sings". He was the creator of the hard copy newsletter quarterly "Letter From Evans" during the 1980s. We thank him for his superb remembrance.