Welcome to billevanswebpages.com
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. If you're new to Bill Evans, you can start your journey
HERE.
We
welcome you to send email with
your comments or questions...or any reviews or articles you may
want us to consider for inclusion onthis website. All will be
read and be answered as time permits. Thank you!
| BILL
EVANS on "PIANO JAZZ with MARIAN McPARTLAND" -
NOW ONLINE! |
NPR's
(National Public Radio) website is now
featuring Marian McPartland's "Piano Jazz" show with
Bill Evans online. Originally recorded Nov. 6, 1978
in NYC, it is a personal interview Ms. McPartland does, with
a close-up look at Bill's later style, pianistic conception
and includes a remarkable segment on the rhythmic displacement
concept he was continually developing. Bill plays "Waltz
for Debby", "All of You", Brubeck's "In
Your Own Sweet Way", Ellington's "Reflections in D",
"Touch
of Your Lips" (Noble) "Days of Wine and Roses"
and more. It is a
remarkable hour of great music
for Evans fans, and previously available only on CD. (Thanks
to our friend Bruce Branigan for the info!)
|
VIDEO
- "PORTRAIT OF BILL" - ORRIN KEEPNEWS |
Legendary
producer/writer Orrin Keepnews is featured in a series of short
videos about the major artists whose music he produced at Riverside
Records. Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley,
McCoy Tyner and others have been profiled, and in this installment,
he talks about working with Bill Evans, and the "Portrait
in Jazz" album. Our thanks to Bret Primack, known
as "JazzVideoGuy" on YouTube, where you can see other
fine jazz videos.
|
OUR REVIEW
OF "THE MASTERY OF BILL EVANS" BOOK |
 |
Check
out Jan Stevens' new review
of the great new book of Pascal Wetzel's Bill Evans excellent
piano transcriptions,
"THE
MASTERY OF BILL EVANS".
Includes
analysis and some actual excerpts from the
book. |
|
BILL EVANS NEWSLETTER - "LETER FROM EVANS" - NOW
ONLINE! |

An
incrdible resource: : between Autumn 1989 and the summer of
1994, a (hard copy) 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 references about Win and his published materials
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!
During
it's five-year run, LFE featured Evans news, album reviews,
commentary, analysis, transcriptions and many exclusive
interviews done mostly by Win with some folks you just
might have heard of: Keith Jarrett, Marc Johnson, Steve Allen,
Earl Zindars, Joe LaBarbera, Henry Mancini, Chuck Israels, Mundell
Lowe, Jimmy Rowles, Denny Zeitlin and many others!
Some rare interviews with Bill himself from various sources
appeared in LFE too, as did a number of nifty transcrptions of
Evans solos -- many that were not available elsewhere. Just a
few of those who contributed articles or reviews included musicians
like Jack
Reilly, Hal Galper, Kenny Werner, Richie Bierach, Evans
archivist Ron Nethercutt and, in fact, yours truly (Jan Stevens).
For
those Bill Evans fans and jazz listeners who haven't seen any
issues of "Letter From Evans", you're in for
quite a treat. They are all filled with loads of unique material--
and some related jazz reviews and comentaries from that time -
that you just won't find anywhere else. Once again, the files
of all issues are now free (though Win has mentioned at his blog
that those who may wish to can contribute, just to help defray
all the expense).
To get started , you'll need the free Adobe PDF reader.
Then just copy and paste http://www2.selu.edu/orgs/34skid/html/3.pdf
where 3.pdf where "3" is the number of the issue you
want to request, 1 through 26-- corresponding to each of the 26
issues.
Obviously,
if you're an Evans aficianado, or even a casual fan, this is big
news. Since I was a subscriber myself then, of course, I have
all these issues -- but honestly, I couldn't be more thrilled,
just thinking about all the good stuff some of you will soon be
looking at. For further information, check out
Win's blog.
- JS
A downloadable .zip
file of the entire run of LFE is here. It's over 300 mgs,
so be advised. You
better act quickly, it won't be up for very long! And special
thanks to our pal, jazz critic Doug Ramsey!
NOTES
AND DISCLAIMERS:
This
tribute website is intended for educational and informational
purposes only. It
is a not-for-profit endeavor and we do not solicit nor accept
any contributions, nor do we sell any products, music transcriptions,
ad space, or other Bill Evans- related or jazz-related services
whatsoever.
This website is not affiliated with any record company or
publisher, nor with the Estate of Bill Evans. Any ads
or logos to featured jazz sites are purely promotional as a
recommended site, and are unsolicited and done for free.
Also: many musicians and fans have contacted us and asked
about obtaining Bill Evans piano transcriptions. Sorry, but
we do not provide these for various copyright reasons. The webmaster
(a pianist) has studied many Evans solo transcriptions, and
various transcriptions by both amateurs and professionals are
available on the Web. Though we do not endorse or specifically
recommend these, you can see a few links to transcriptions on
our LINKS page and for info on where to
purchase music books of various Evans collections. Many are
able to be obtained from TRO Music, Inc., distributed by Hal Leonard, Inc.,
and other authorized companies which pay licensing fees and
have permissions to reproduce original musical compositions
and transcriptions.
NOTE:
The textual information and HTML within is proprietary content
and cannot be copied digitally, electronically or otherwise
for use on the Web or other media without permission. If you
wish to use any content here, (Other than brief quotes or paragrapgh
use under the Fair Use Doctrine) or have a BLOG, simply email
us for permission before copying reviews and or other materials.
Thank you.
We kindly ask that you please
do not email to ask "What album is "[whatever song]
on?". Our discography of
Bill Evans' recording history (1956 through 1980) --though in
need of some updating for recent reissues -- gives as much detailed
and complete information as possible. Thank you
OUR
NEW DVD and VIDEO PAGE - and BILL "AT THE MOVIES"
MIKE HARRIS -
("Secret Sessions" CD boxset) profile article
"BILL EVANS" - our DVD review of the
rare
Italian documentary from 1996
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