Born and raised in New Jersey, Evans was recruited for Southeastern Louisiana University on a flute scholarship, where he received a thorough background in theory, played in the marching band, and also led his football team to a league championship as a quarterback. Graduating as a piano major in 1950, he started to tour with the Herbie Fields band, but the draft soon beckoned, and Evans was placed in the Fifth Army Band near Chicago. After three years in the service, he arrived in New York in 1954, playing in Tony Scott's quartet and undertaking postgraduate studies at Mannes College, where he encountered composer George Russell and his modal jazz theories. By 1956, he had already recorded his first album as a leader for Riverside, New Jazz Conceptions, still enthralled by the bop style of Bud Powell but also unveiling what was to become his best-known composition, "Waltz for Debby," which he wrote while still in the Army.
In spring 1958, Evans began an eight-month gig with the Miles Davis Sextet, where he exerted a powerful influence upon the willful yet ever-searching leader. Though Evans left the band that autumn, exhausted by pressured expectations and anxious to form his own group, he was deeply involved in the planning and execution of Davis' epochal Kind of Blue album in 1959, contributing ideas about mood, structure, and modal improvisation, and collaborating on several of the compositions. Although the original release gave composition credit of "Blue in Green" to Davis, Evans claimed he wrote it entirely, based on two chords suggested by Davis (nowadays, they receive co-credit).
Evans returned to the scene as a leader in December 1958 with the album Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which included the famous "Peace Piece," a haunting vamp for solo piano that sounds like a long-lost Satie Gymnopédie. Evans' first working trio turned out to be his most celebrated, combining forces with the astounding young bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian in three-way telepathic trialogues. With this group, Evans became a star -- and there was even talk about a recording with Davis involving the entire trio. Sadly, only ten days after a landmark live session at the Village Vanguard in June 1961, LaFaro was killed in an auto accident -- and the shattered Evans went into seclusion for almost a year. He re-emerged the following spring with Chuck Israels as his bassist, and he would go on to record duets with guitarist Jim Hall and a swinging quintet session, Interplay, with Hall and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.
Upon signing with Verve in 1962, Evans was encouraged by producer Creed Taylor to continue to record in more varied formats: with Gary McFarland's big band, the full-orchestra arrangements of Claus Ogerman, co-star Stan Getz, and a reunion with Hall. The most remarkable of these experiments was Conversations with Myself, a session where Evans overdubbed second and third piano parts onto the first; this eventually led to two sequels in that fashion.
By 1966, Evans had paired with Puerto Rican bassist Eddie Gomez and formed a trio with drummer Jack DeJohnette. Though short-lived, the group garnered attention, picking up a Grammy Award for the 1968 concert album Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival. That same year, DeJohnette left to be replaced by Marty Morell. This version of Evans' trio continued to work for a decade, releasing albums like 1969's What's New and 1971's Grammy-winning The Bill Evans Album. Evans also picked up a Grammy in 1970 for his solo piano date Alone.
In his only concession to the emerging jazz-rock scene, Evans dabbled with the Rhodes electric piano in the 1970s but eventually tired of it, even though inventor Harold Rhodes had tailored the instrument to Evans' specifications. He recorded further trio sessions with Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund before launching a final trio in the late '70s with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe La Barbera. Often considered one of the pianist's best configurations since the LaFaro-Motian team, their brief time together was documented on 1979's Grammy-winning We Will Meet Again, also featuring trumpeter Tom Harrell and saxophonist Larry Schneider.
By the late '70s, Evans' health was rapidly deteriorating, aggravated by long periods of heroin and cocaine addiction. He died on September 15, 1980, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 51 years old. Along with a 1994 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a flood of unreleased recordings from commercial and private sources helped to further elevate interest in Evans' work. Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings arrived in 1996, followed by 2000's The Last Waltz, recorded at Keystone Korner in 1980. Resonance Records also released three archival albums featuring Evans' late-'60s trio: 2016's Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest, 2018's Another Time: The Hilversum Concert, and 2020's Live at Ronnie Scott's.
Biography by Richard S. Ginell
There are other artists with the same name:
2.) Bill Evans (born 9th February 1958 in Clarendon Hills, Illinois, USA) is an American jazz saxophonist. His father was a classical piano prodigy and until junior high school Evans studied classical clarinet. Early in his studies he was able to hear such artists as Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz live at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. He attended Hinsdale Central High School and studied with jazz tenor saxophonist Vince Micko.
He plays primarily tenor and soprano saxophones. Evans attended North Texas State University and William Paterson University, where he studied with Dave Liebman, who had played with Miles Davis. Moving to New York City in 1979 he spent countless hours in lofts playing jazz standards and perfecting his improvisational style. At the age of twenty-two he joined Miles Davis. In the early to mid-1980s, Evans played with Davis and was instrumental in his musical comeback. Notable albums recorded with Miles include The Man with the Horn, We Want Miles, and Decoy.
In addition to playing with Miles Davis he has played, toured and recorded with artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Mclaughlin (and his Mahavishnu Orchestra), Michael Franks, Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Les McCann, Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb, Ian Anderson, and Randy Brecker, among others. He is featured on the Petite Blonde album with Victor Bailey, Dennis Chambers, Mitch Forman, and Chuck Loeb.
Two of his most recent albums Soul Insider and Soulgrass were nominated for Grammy awards. Soulgrass was a groundbreaking bluegrass-jazz fusion concept involving such musicians as Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, and Vinnie Colaiuta. Although his latest projects are musically eclectic, his stylistic roots remain in the history of jazz saxophone, influenced by such players as Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Stan Getz, and Steve Grossman.
3.) San Francisco Bay Area musician and Virginia native Bill Evans has been involved with bluegrass music and the banjo for over twenty-five years as a player, teacher, writer, and historian. He occupies a unique niche in the banjo world: celebrated worldwide for his traditional and progressive bluegrass banjo styles as well as his innovative original compositions, he also enjoys a reputation as an outstanding instructor as well as being an expert player of nineteenth-century minstrel and classic/parlour banjo styles.
Autumn Leave
Bill Evans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
The lyrics of Bill Evans's song "Autumn Leaves" express a sorrowful sentiment of a person who is reminded of a past summer love affair as the autumn season arrives. The falling leaves drifting by the window and the red and gold foliage evoke memories of the lover's lips and sunburned hands. The singer laments the long days after the lover's departure and anticipates the arrival of winter's coldness. However, the most profound sorrow is felt when autumn leaves start to fall, a reminder of the lover's absence.
The second stanza of the song is sung in French by the singer's female collaborator, Édith Piaf. She sings about a love that once existed between two people, but as quietly and gently as the tide erases the footprints on the sand, life separates those who love. The lyrics are a melancholic reflection on love and its inevitable dissolution.
Overall, "Autumn Leaves" is a reflective and poignant song that captures the bittersweet emotions of a past love.
Line by Line Meaning
The falling leaves drift by the window
The leaves that once were fastened upon the tree branches now fall aimlessly, as if wandering, past the windowpane.
The autumn leaves of red and gold
The vibrant display of autumn foliage clothed in striking colors of red and gold.
I see your lips, the summer kisses
As I reminisce, it's your lips and the warm, affectionate kisses shared during summer that come to my memory.
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
I long for the sun-burned hands that I once laced my fingers with affectionately.
Since you went away the days grow long
Ever since you left me, the days seem to be unbearably lengthy.
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
The time is approaching when winter's chill will set in, and its melancholic tune will resonate with my soul.
But I miss you most of all my darling
Despite the seasonal changes and the passage of time, it is the absence of your presence that is most acutely felt.
When autumn leaves start to fall
As the leaves of fall begin their descent, my heart aches with a longing that is difficult to bear.
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
This is a song that mirrors who we are and how we feel.
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
You loved me, and I loved you in return.
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
We shared a life together, just the two of us.
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
We both loved each other dearly.
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
However, life has a way of separating those who love each other.
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
It happens slowly, without making any noise.
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
And just like the waves washing away footprints in the sand, the sea of life erases the path of separated lovers.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Springstoff GmbH, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jacques Prevert, Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@satanicthumb83
The level of almost telepathy or synchronization between these three is marveling. I think the Bill Evans Trio was one of the most solid and excellent jazz units to exist on this planet.
@teddybui1319
LP
@teddybui1319
Ll
@aguycalledmarcos4228
Totally agree
@Burroughs479
Either this band or Miles Davis' band on "My Funny Valentine" Live at the Philharmonic 1965.
@andreamuehlethaler6106
but then came keith jarrett and his trio
@user-xe5ng8lz7h
約25年前にお酒を飲みながら聴いていた名曲🍸️
@poindexterregan5603
I remember hearing this when it first came out, I was 15, into rock n roll. Completely changed my entire concept of music, what it was, what it could be. Scott LaFaro dying at 25, what a tragic loss. Trying to imagine where he could have gone. I always thought if Scotty hadn't died, he might even have saved Bill from his addiction to heroin.
@Drewster58
Bill’s lines are inspired, so perfectly timed and selected in the flow of the tune. This is like the biblical version of ‘Leaves, godly improv.
@mitchie7599
演奏開始45秒から抑え込んだ感じにして、２分あたりの所で一気に切り替えしてビル・エヴァンスのピアノのリードからベースとドラムも続いてクールに演奏していくのがもの凄く良いですね。
印象派の音楽家に影響を受けたジャズピアニスト、ビル・エヴァンスの音楽的思考がオリジナルにはない味を創り出す。