It was strange to log on today and find that it’s over a year since I posted here. Last year went very quickly, and with challenges in my business life and a hectic time at home, time passed at a relentless speed. Thankfully after some amount of effort normality has been restored, the business has returned to profit, and I’m now a father to a beautiful boy named Oliver. But then you came here to read about Jazz, so that’s my excuses out of the way.
I’ve been listening to Bill Evans quite a lot over the past 6 months, after hearing an album whilst at a friend’s house and then rooting out my own copy of ‘Everybody Digs Bill Evans’ for another review. The first track is ‘Minority’, a great fast swing piece full of big block chords from the piano, adding pace and rhythm to the track. During this period in the late 50s, the young Bill Evans was into playing a block chord style which pushed him to the front of Jazz piano at that time, providing a fresh new sound unlike the other musicians of the period. The album was recorded in 1958, his second album following a two year break after ‘New Jazz Conceptions’.
William John Evans was born in 1929, the son of an amateur pianist, and began his musicial tuition at an early age. He studied music at Southeastern Louisiana University and quickly moved on to play in a number of ‘trad’ jazz groups before striking out on his own in 1956. He was picked up by the renowned Jazz producer Orrin Keepnews who heard Bill’s demo and recorded his first solo album. From there he joined Miles Davis’ famous sextet, becoming the only white member of the band. Davis said of Evans: “I’ve sure learned a lot from Bill Evans. He plays the piano the way it should be played.” A true musician’s musician.
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Quartal Harmony Jazz Blog 