Bill Evans · New to them

New to Evans

Bill Evans changed the sound of the jazz piano trio: a soft touch, rich chords, and a band where bass and drums talk back. This path starts with his most welcoming live record, steps back to see how he got there, and follows him through the trio years, a few famous dates as a sideman and partner, and on into the 1960s.

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Start here: a Sunday in 1961
Waltz For Debby Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 399 · 1962
On Sunday, June 25, 1961, the Bill Evans Trio played five sets at the Village Vanguard in New York, and Riverside recorded the day. This record, issued in 1962, gathers its gentlest music: ballads, a waltz, a Miles Davis tune, all played in a small club in front of a crowd. The trio is Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Eleven days later LaFaro was killed in a car crash, and this was the last time the three played together. You don't need to know that to love the record, but it explains why people hold it so close. Start here, with Evans at his most open, and then we'll go back and see how he got to that room.
Start with
- My Foolish Heart
- Waltz For Debby
- Some Other Time
"Waltz For Debby" is Evans's own tune, a portrait of his niece; he wrote it in the early 1950s and first recorded it as a short piano solo. Listen to how freely the bass moves under the melody, more a second voice than a timekeeper. "Some Other Time" is a Leonard Bernstein song from On the Town, and "My Foolish Heart" opens the record slow and quiet.
In the band
Scott LaFaro · bass
Scott LaFaro was 25, born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1936. Before joining Evans in 1959 he had worked with Chet Baker, Stan Kenton, Cal Tjader and Benny Goodman. In this trio the bass rose to nearly equal standing with the piano, and bass players have followed his lead ever since. On July 6, 1961, four days after playing the Newport festival with Stan Getz, he died in a car accident on Route 20 in upstate New York.
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The famous record he helped shape
Kind Of Blue Miles Davis · Columbia CL 1355 · 1959
Many people first meet Bill Evans here, often without knowing it. He joined Miles Davis's sextet in the spring of 1958 and left that November, worn out and with his father ill. A few months later Davis called him back for Kind of Blue, recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York on March 2 and April 22, 1959. Evans plays on every track but "Freddie Freeloader", where Wynton Kelly, who had taken his place in the band, sits in. Davis's sketches were built on scales rather than fast chord changes, close to how Evans already thought, and Evans wrote the liner notes. Hear it now, after the trio, and keep your ear on the piano.
Start with
- So What
- Blue In Green
- Flamenco Sketches
"So What" opens with a quiet duet for piano and bass before the theme arrives. "Blue In Green" is the still center of the record; the sleeve credited Davis alone, but Evans said he wrote it, and the Davis estate acknowledged that in 2002. In "Flamenco Sketches", as Evans explained in his notes, each soloist moves through a series of scales at his own pace.
In the band
Miles Davis · trumpet
Miles Davis was 32, leading a sextet with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley that was the most talked-about band in jazz. He had hired Evans in 1958, and even after Evans left, Davis built these sessions around him. Davis went on to many more turns, from orchestral records with Gil Evans to electric jazz at the end of the 1960s, but Kind of Blue is still the record of his that most people own.
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Just before the famous trio
Everybody Digs Bill Evans Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 12-291 · 1959
Go back a few months. On December 15, 1958, soon after leaving Davis, Evans made his second album as a leader, at Reeves Sound Studios in New York for Riverside, with Orrin Keepnews producing. Sam Jones is on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The cover carries praise from Davis, George Shearing, Ahmad Jamal and Cannonball Adderley, which gave the record its title; Davis's line says Evans plays the piano the way it should be played. It is mostly trio, with a few solo pieces, and one of those, "Peace Piece", has drawn more attention than anything else he recorded that year. This is Evans on his own terms, just before he found his trio.
Start with
- Peace Piece
- Minority
- Young And Foolish
"Peace Piece" is Evans alone, improvising over the same two chords in the left hand from start to finish, while the right hand grows more decorative and adventurous. Those two chords are the ones that open Bernstein's "Some Other Time", which you heard in step one. "Minority", a Gigi Gryce tune, shows the other side of him: a full trio at a brisk bebop pace.
In the band
Philly Joe Jones · drums
Philly Joe Jones, from Philadelphia, had been the drummer in Miles Davis's quintet with John Coltrane from 1955 into 1958, and for a few weeks that year he, Evans and Paul Chambers played together in Davis's band. He brings a bebop drummer's drive to the up-tempo tunes here. He and Evans recorded together many more times over the years. Philly Joe later led his own groups and lived for a while in Europe before returning to Philadelphia.
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The trio finds its voice
Portrait In Jazz Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 315 · 1960
In 1959 a young bassist, Scott LaFaro, approached Evans, and with Paul Motian on drums the trio you met in step one was born. On December 28, 1959, eight months after Kind of Blue, they went into Reeves Sound Studios with Orrin Keepnews and made their first record. It is mostly standards, with "Blue In Green" again and a new Evans tune. The biographer Keith Shadwick described it as the blueprint for every working trio Evans had afterwards. What changed is the role of the bass, raised almost to the level of the piano, and with it the shape of the modern jazz trio. Here is where that sound starts: three players listening as hard as they play.
Start with
- Autumn Leaves
- Blue In Green
- Peri's Scope
On "Autumn Leaves", listen to the bass: LaFaro answers the piano instead of only keeping time, and Motian colors the music around them. The original LP came in mono and stereo editions, each with a different take of this song. "Blue In Green" returns from Kind of Blue, now with Evans named as co-writer. "Peri's Scope" is a bright Evans tune named for his girlfriend of the time, Peri Cousins.
In the band
Paul Motian · drums
Paul Motian, born in Philadelphia in 1931 and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, was 28 here. He had played on Evans's first album in 1956 and came back for the new trio. Where many drummers of the time drove the beat hard, Motian's part in this group was to shade and answer, leaving room for the bass. He stayed with Evans for more than four years, longer than anyone in this first trio.
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A partner on alto
Know What I Mean? Cannonball Adderley With Bill Evans · Riverside RLP 433 · 1962
Evans had played beside Cannonball Adderley in Davis's band and on Kind of Blue. By 1961 Adderley was a big seller for Riverside with his soul-jazz quintet, and he wanted a change of setting, so he built a record around his friend. They met at Bell Sound in New York on January 27, February 21 and March 13, 1961, with Percy Heath and Connie Kay, the bass and drums of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Evans arranged the music. Here he is a partner rather than a leader, and you can hear how naturally his way of playing fits beside a warm, bluesy horn.
Start with
- Waltz For Debby
- Know What I Mean?
- Who Cares?
"Waltz For Debby" is the tune from step one, now with a saxophone carrying the melody. The title track is an Evans original; producer Orrin Keepnews named it after a phrase Adderley used all the time. "Who Cares?" is a George and Ira Gershwin song. Listen to how the four share each tune, with Heath and Kay keeping things light behind them.
In the band
Cannonball Adderley · alto sax
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley was a Florida schoolteacher who caused a stir sitting in at a New York club in 1955. He spent two years with Miles Davis, then led a popular quintet with his brother Nat. Here he sets aside the gospel-tinged sound that sold his records and plays standards and ballads with a friend. He later had a hit with "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", and died in 1975, aged 46.
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The trio in the studio again
Explorations Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 351 · 1961
On February 2, 1961, the trio made its second and last studio record, at Bell Sound in New York for Riverside. It was not an easy day. Evans's drug habit had already delayed the album, and Keith Shadwick describes friction between Evans and LaFaro, who was playing a borrowed bass; Evans complained of a headache. You would never guess it from the music. The record won the Billboard critics' poll for best piano LP of 1961, and it is known for what Evans called simultaneous improvisation: all three players inventing at once, each free to lead. This is the closest look at the three of them thinking together.
Start with
- Israel
- Nardis
- Elsa
"Israel" is a minor blues by John Carisi, first recorded by Davis's Birth of the Cool band. "Nardis" is a Davis tune that Evans would come back to for the rest of his life. "Elsa" is a ballad-waltz by his friend Earl Zindars; one reviewer called it among the most beautiful piano ballads on record. Listen for the three parts moving at once rather than taking turns.
In the band
Scott La Faro · bass
Scott LaFaro was 24. Around the time of this session he was also working with Ornette Coleman: he played on Coleman's Free Jazz in December 1960 and took over the bass chair in Coleman's quartet early in 1961. That one bassist could move between Coleman's open playing and Evans's harmonies says a lot about his range. His sister, Helene LaFaro-Fernandez, later wrote his biography, Jade Visions, named after one of his own tunes.
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A sideman at Van Gelder's
The Blues And The Abstract Truth Oliver Nelson · Impulse! A-5 · 1961
Three weeks after the trio session, on February 23, 1961, Evans was at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, as the pianist in Oliver Nelson's septet. Creed Taylor produced it for the new Impulse! label. The band is remarkable: Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on alto and flute, George Barrow on baritone, Paul Chambers on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. It was Evans's only date with Nelson, and he solos on five of the six tracks. Here you hear him in a modern blues setting, far from the ballads, and holding his own among some of the strongest soloists of the day.
Start with
- Stolen Moments
- Yearnin'
- Cascades
"Stolen Moments" is the tune everyone knows, now a standard: a 16-bar theme, then solos over a minor blues, with Hubbard, Dolphy and Nelson before Evans comes in last. Critic Don DeMicheal, in DownBeat, singled out Dolphy's solo on "Yearnin'" as his most interesting on the record, and felt Hubbard took the solo honors overall. Nelson wrote every tune.
In the band
Oliver Nelson · tenor sax
Oliver Nelson, from St. Louis, was 28, a saxophonist who had played in big bands and was making his name as a writer. He composed every piece here and arranged them for this septet, and the record became the one he is best known for. He went on to arrange for many leaders and moved to Los Angeles to write for television and film. He died in 1975, aged 43.
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The same Sunday, the other record
Sunday At The Village Vanguard Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 376 · 1961
This is the other record from June 25, 1961, the day you heard in step one. Riverside put it out first, later in 1961, and it leans toward LaFaro's side of the trio: two of its six tunes are his. Coming to it now, after the studio records, you can hear how much further the three of them went in a club, stretching out over a whole afternoon and evening. AllMusic's Thom Jurek writes that the trio is still widely thought of as Evans's finest, for the symbiotic interplay of its members. It is also the last record of that band, finished eleven days before LaFaro's death.
Start with
- Gloria's Step
- Jade Visions
- My Man's Gone Now
"Gloria's Step" and "Jade Visions" are LaFaro's own compositions, rare chances to hear him as a writer, and in both the bass carries much of the music. "My Man's Gone Now" is from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, a song of mourning. Listen across all three for how little the players seem to lead or follow: each part feels as important as the others.
In the band
Paul Motian · drums
Paul Motian was the one who stayed. After LaFaro's death he kept playing with Evans with a new bassist, and later moved on. He drummed in Keith Jarrett's quartet in the 1970s, began leading his own groups, and in the 1980s formed a trio with guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano that lasted for decades. In his last years he played often at the Village Vanguard, the room heard on this record. He died in 2011.
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Starting over, softly
Moon Beams The Bill Evans Trio · Riverside RLP 428 · 1962
After LaFaro died, Evans withdrew from public life for months. When he came back to the studio with a trio, at Sound Makers in New York between May 17 and June 2, 1962, Paul Motian was still with him and the new bassist was Chuck Israels. This was the first trio album he made after LaFaro's death, issued by Riverside that December, and it holds the ballads from those sessions: two Evans originals and standards from the 1930s and 1940s. AllMusic's Thom Jurek called it a major advance for Evans as a leader. It is a fine place to hear him at his most inward, a year after the loss.
Start with
- Re: Person I Knew
- Very Early
- Polka Dots And Moonbeams
"Re: Person I Knew" is an Evans tune whose title is an anagram of his producer's name, Orrin Keepnews. "Very Early" is a waltz Evans wrote while he was still a college student. "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" is one of the standards that fill the rest of the album. Listen to how the trio's conversation carries on with a new voice in it.
In the band
Chuck Israels · bass
Chuck Israels, born in New York in 1936, had first crossed paths with Evans in 1957 at the Brandeis University jazz festival, where Evans played George Russell's "All About Rosie". He was 25 when he took the bass chair late in 1961, months after LaFaro's death, which made it one of the hardest jobs in jazz. He stayed into 1966.
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Three pianos, one player
Conversations With Myself Bill Evans · Verve V-8526 · 1963
Now recording for Verve and producer Creed Taylor, Evans tried something new in 1963: a record of Evans with himself. Over three sessions in New York, on February 6 and 9 and May 20, 1963, he recorded most tunes three times over, one piano part laid on another, playing a Steinway prized by Glenn Gould. Overdubbing was controversial in jazz at the time. The record won Evans his first Grammy, and biographer Peter Pettinger called it "a work of staggering resource and beauty". After the trios and the partners, here is Evans in conversation with no one but himself.
Start with
- N.Y.C.'s No Lark
- 'Round About Midnight
- Love Theme From Spartacus
"N.Y.C.'s No Lark" is Evans's tribute to the pianist Sonny Clark, who had died a month before the sessions; its title is an anagram of Clark's name. Three tunes are Thelonious Monk's, among them "'Round About Midnight" and "Blue Monk", which uses two piano parts rather than three. The love theme from the film Spartacus shows how far Evans could take a movie melody.
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A concert for his father
Bill Evans At Town Hall Volume One Bill Evans Trio · Verve V-8683 · 1967
On February 21, 1966, Evans played New York's Town Hall with Chuck Israels on bass and Arnold Wise on drums. His father, Harry, had died earlier that year, and Evans played a long solo suite in his memory. A big band set from the same concert was dropped from the record; his manager, Helen Keane, felt he had not played his best in it. What's left is a live record in two parts: the trio on four standards, then Evans alone for almost 14 minutes. AllMusic's Scott Yanow called the solo the most memorable part. It reached number 12 on Billboard's jazz chart, and it shows how personal his playing could be.
Start with
- I Should Care
- Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
- Solo-In Memory Of His Father, Harry L. Evans, 1891-1966
The trio opens with "I Should Care" and "Spring Is Here". "Who Can I Turn To" is a show tune that became one of his favorites. Then comes the suite, all by Evans, in parts that include "Story Line" and "Turn Out The Stars", a ballad of his played here alone at the piano. Listen for how the parts flow into one another, like a single piece.
In the band
Chuck Israels · bass
This concert was Chuck Israels's last record as a regular member of the trio, after more than four years. He was a composer and arranger as well as a bassist, and later he led his own repertory orchestra, the National Jazz Ensemble, in the 1970s. He went on to teach jazz for many years at Western Washington University. Few bassists played longer beside Evans or helped him more through hard years.
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Two players, one conversation
Intermodulation Bill Evans, Jim Hall · Verve V-8655 · 1966
Two months after Town Hall, on April 7 and May 10, 1966, Evans met guitarist Jim Hall again for their second duo record, produced by Creed Taylor for Verve. Their first, Undercurrent, had come out in 1962. With no bass or drums, everything you've heard in this path about listening comes down to two people. Biographer Peter Pettinger heard the album as carrying on the textures of their first meeting. It's a good place to end: Evans at 36, well into his Verve years and still finding new settings, with much more ahead of him than behind.
Start with
- Turn Out The Stars
- All Across The City
- My Man's Gone Now
"Turn Out The Stars" is the ballad Evans played alone at Town Hall in the previous step, now shared with guitar; Pettinger called it a major achievement. "All Across The City" is Hall's own tune. "My Man's Gone Now" you heard from the trio at the Vanguard in step eight. AllMusic's Michael G. Nastos praised how intricately the two weave together.
In the band
Jim Hall · guitar
Jim Hall, born in Buffalo in 1930 and raised in Cleveland, had played in Chico Hamilton's quintet and Jimmy Giuffre's trio before settling in New York, and in 1962 he joined Sonny Rollins for The Bridge. That same year he and Evans made their first duo record. He shared Evans's love of quiet, careful harmony. Hall kept working into his 80s, often in duets, and died in 2013.
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Sources

Start here: a Sunday in 1961

The famous record he helped shape

Just before the famous trio

The trio finds its voice

A partner on alto

The trio in the studio again

A sideman at Van Gelder's

The same Sunday, the other record

Starting over, softly

Three pianos, one player

A concert for his father

Two players, one conversation

That's all 12.